A Fort Worth pawn shop was broken into during an overnight burglary. The thieves stole several firearms, and Mr. Miller quoted the police in his headline.
It appears that he received a few comments about the "assault type rifle" comment. When you read the article, you will see that he did a pretty good job of reporting on this incident, and I think the comments were not really justified.
Well, to get to the point, Mr. Miller has posted the following on the Star Telegram Crime Time Blog:
In the world of Internet journalism, we have found that some terms or words have the potential to draw an avalanche of "clicks."So go on, head over and give Bill a hand with defining assault weapon or rifle.
Pit bull tends to do that; so does Dallas Cowboys.
"Britney" is also big.
But what about Kalashnikov?
Well, the other name for the AK-47 rifle (shown with its namesake designer Mikhail Kalashnikov at right) may not cause as much wear and tear on the mouse as Ms. Spears.
Still, there's something about those two words; put them together in a headline and you can rattle the attention of gun aficionados everywhere.
It might happen today with the recent report of semiautomatic long arms stolen overnight from an east-side pawn shop.
But some of these readers are quick to note that the term "assault weapon" is frequently misused by the media.
It's clear that the gun guys (are there any gals among them?) know their subject.
They can launch into all kinds of discussions, about calibers, barrel lengths, military applications, personal defense ...
So, gun guys (and gals) here's your chance: give us your most lucid definition of assault weapon in the Crime Time comments section.
Together we can make a difference.
Bill Miller has a good writing style and, as I mentioned before, is not one of the antis posing as a reporter. Recently he reported on a security guard who shot two robbers with an SKS. In that report he referred to the SKS as a carbine, the proper terminology for that firearm.
3 comments:
The problem is that there is no universally accepted definition. The now defunct federal ban defined them one way, the freedom-hating states that restrict them each come up with their own definitions, and H.R. 1022 has yet another definition (which just happens to ban nearly everything).
I'll take your word for it about Miller, but I don't see how his challenge can really be met.
If he wanted a definition for assault rifle, we could help him out.
The definition I offered up was for rifle, I'll see how the comments go on his question before I get into the "assault weapon" is a made up term to scare the white folks.
Another great post, JR.
Thanks for your continued blogging.
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