Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
I’ve said before that the media isn’t our friend. When it comes to the Second Amendment, it’s best to view the mainstream media and all those who try to emulate it as hostile to our goals.
After all, they don’t think you or I should be allowed to have guns.
With the protests that have raged off and on for months throughout much of the United States, the media has been anything but hostile, though. They’ve supported the protests and even covered for the outright riots by calling them “mostly peaceful protests.”
However, now some in the media want to take aim at guns at protests.
In 2020, Americans bought guns in record numbers. They also brought them to Black Lives Matter protests, adding a menacing element to increasingly tense confrontations between protesters, counterprotesters, and cops. These guns are not just for show; an analysis by VICE News shows there have been at least 70 incidents involving guns since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis in late May, sparking protests across the country. 21 of those incidents left 22 people dead.
It’s important to note that of the 10,600 demonstrations in the U.S. tallied by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, 96% were peaceful. But the presence of guns at protests has raised the stakes, and shooting deaths only tell part of the story. In addition to deaths by gunfire, VICE News’ analysis also tallied incidents of “brandishing,” where someone threatens by pointing a gun; random shots fired; shootings; shootings that caused injury; and shootings that killed.
Of course, that “96 percent peaceful” thing always annoys me. Why? Well, because if that number is accurate, it betrays a bit of outright hypocrisy on the part of leftists.
See, the flip side to “96 percent peaceful” is that four percent of protests aren’t. You know what else is around four percent? The crude worldwide mortality rate for COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO admits the actual mortality rate will be lower, though, yet the same people who shrug off four percent of protests being violent will scream bloody murder at you if you leave your house without a mask despite the rates being the same.
Anyway, moving on…
Our data collection focused primarily on incidents of gun violence that were linked to a protest. We compiled incidents from social media, local news reports, and police reports. Researcher Alexander Reid Ross, a lecturer at Portland State University and author of “Against the Fascist Creep,” also contributed data.
Here are some key data points on shootings at protests since George Floyd was killed on May 25, according to our analysis:
We also looked at who’s being targeted by shootings or threatened with gun violence, where it was possible to discern. Of the 26 incidents of brandishing weapons, for example, 21 were targeting Black Lives Matter protesters. This includes Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the wealthy St. Louis couple who threatened protesters from the lawn of their mansion (they were later invited to speak at the RNC), as well as an incident in Portland, where Proud Boy supporter Alan Swinney pointed a gun at protesters.
So, let’s break these numbers down for a bit.
Out of 70 total “gun incidents,” less than half were directed toward BLM protestors. Not less by much, granted, but less than half. It also seems clear they’re including cases of self-defense like the McCloskeys or cases that didn’t involve firearms, like Swinney’s. Likely, it includes Kyle Rittenhouse as well.
So, if you account for that, the numbers drop even lower than that original “less than half.”
Meanwhile, that leaves more than half of all so-called gun violence at protests being from BLM protestors.
“Oh, but they said only 12 counterprotesters were threatened, shot, or killed,” someone might counter, and sure. That’s what they say and I’m going to take their count at face value.
However, all that means is that these “protestors” aren’t interested in limiting their violent acts toward people who are counter protesting. There have been reports of people being shot and killed by fellow protestors, for example, which would likely screw these numbers way the hell up. There have been innocent people simply trying to protect their businesses who have been shot and killed.
Frankly, there’s been a lot of violence, but while Vice is focused on gun violence, it’s worth noting that the burning of buildings and throwing incendiary devices is violence as well. There’s little mention of how much of that has played into the “gun violence.”
See, Vice falls into a typical trap of believing all uses of a gun are somehow equal. They start by talking about an armed protestor who was shot, but they fail to note that he pointed his gun at an armed citizen who didn’t take kindly to threats.
This is, unfortunately, the world we live in. Self-defense is merely relegated to the ranks of “gun violence” when it serves a media complicit in the lawlessness that has gripped our nation. As I said before, they’re not just ignoring the truth on guns and gun rights, they’re outright hostile to those rights.
It’s past time we start remembering that.
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. He's also the host of Unloaded TV on YouTube.
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2020/10/02/media-smears-guns-at-protests/