The missing gun

Yet another example of Media Bias.

I bet you never heard this part of the story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/38115.htm

THE MISSING GUN

By JOHN R.  LOTT, JR.

January 25, 2002 -- ANOTHER school shooting occurred last week and the

headlines were everywhere the same, from Australia to Nigeria.  This

time the shooting occurred at a university, the Appalachian Law School. 

As usual, there were calls for more gun control.

====>  Yet in this age of "gun-free school zones,"

====>  one fact was missing from virtually all

====>  the news coverage:

====>  The attack was stopped by two students

====>  who had guns in their cars.

The fast responses of two male students, Mikael Gross, 34, and Tracy

Bridges, 25, undoubtedly saved multiple lives.

Mikael was outside the law school and just returning from lunch when

Peter Odighizuwa started his attack.  Tracy was in a classroom waiting

for class to start.

When the shots rang out, utter chaos erupted.  Mikael said, "People were

running everywhere.  They were jumping behind cars, running out in front

of traffic, trying to get away."

Mikael and Tracy did something quite different: Both immediately ran to

their cars and got their guns.  Mikael had to run about 100 yards to get

to his car.  Along with Ted Besen (who was unarmed), they approached

Peter from different sides.

As Tracy explained it, "I aimed my gun at him, and Peter tossed his gun

down.  Ted approached Peter, and Peter hit Ted in the jaw.  Ted pushed

him back and we all jumped on."

What is so remarkable is that out of 280 separate news stories (from a

computerized Nexis-Lexis search) in the week after the event, just four

stories mentioned that the students who stopped the attack had guns.

Only two local newspapers (the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Charlotte

Observer) mentioned that the students actually pointed their guns at the

attacker.

Much more typical was the scenario described by the Washington Post,

where the heroes had simply "helped subdue" the killer.  The New York

Times noted only that the attacker was "tackled by fellow students."

Most in the media who discussed how the attack was stopped said:

"students overpowered a gunman," "students ended the rampage by tackling

him," "the gunman was tackled by four male students before being

arrested," or "Students ended the rampage by confronting and then

tackling the gunman, who dropped his weapon."

In all, 72, stories described how the attacker was stopped without

mentioning that the student heroes had guns.

Unfortunately, the coverage in this case was not unusual.  In the other

public school shootings where citizens with guns have stopped attacks,

rarely do more than one percent of the news stories mention that

citizens with guns stopped the attacks.

Many people find it hard to believe that research shows that there are 2

million defensive gun uses each year.  After all, if these events were

really happening, wouldn't we hear about them on the news?  But when was

the last time you saw a story on the national evening news (or even the

local news) about a citizen using his gun to stop a crime?

This misreporting actually endangers people's lives.  By selectively

reporting the news and turning a defensive gun use story into one where

students merely "overpowered a gunman" the media gives misleading

impressions of what works when people are confronted by violence.

Research consistently shows that having a gun is the safest way to

respond to any type of criminal attack, especially these multiple victim

shootings.

John Lott is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and

the author of "More Guns, Less Crime."