Guest Post be Andrea Shea King and David Codrea
Minnesota carry day and safety exposition. (Facebook)
Despite contacting “about 65 individual reporters … from about 30 different media outlets …[n]ot one showed up or even printed/posted the information about” Saturday’s Minnesota Carry Day and Safety Education Expo in Elk River, the group Twin Cities Gun Owner and Carry Forum announced yesterday in a post-event recap.
“The event was a raging success!” Director Shelley Leeson reported. “We estimate that 250-300 people attended the community outreach event throughout the day. We also had the participation and support of the Sherburne County Sheriff, Joel Brott, and his deputies.
“We had 10 informational presentations throughout the day ranging from overviews on firearms safety, defensive shooting, gun ownership 101 for women and permit-to-carry.” Leeson’s summary continued. “The sheriff’s department even gave a presentation on the expectations for permit holders and business owners in regard to Minnesota’s permit-to-carry law. Each informational presentation was attended by 30 to 45 people.”
Readers of this column’s companion blog, “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance” wereinformed of the event in late October, and a flyer giving event details was posted in this correspondent’s Scribd document archive. But while an unauthorized #justablogger who doesn’t even live in Minnesota found the event newsworthy, local “Authorized Journalists” evidently had better things to do with their weekend.
“Disappointingly, but as expected, the event was completely ignored by the Twin Cities media despite that fact that multiple reporters and journalists from each TV, radio and newspaper media source were sent an initial press release and then a follow up reminder the day prior to the event,” Leeson reported. “The fact that every media outlet in the Twin Cities ignored this important event focused on gun safety speaks volumes about their agenda, especially in light of the fact that every local media outlet gave coverage two weeks ago to our local gun grabber group (Protect Minnesota), that held a fake ‘gun violence summit,’ but excluded all of us from attending when we sent our RSVP’s.”
Just to test the allegation of the media ignoring the event, Gun Rights Examiner did a Google news feed search using terms like “Minnesota gun” and similar terms. No relevant news accounts appear.
That’s despite the event being actively supported by Sheriff Brott, who per Leeson “is 2A supportive.” The sheriff “had three of his deputies on hand at their info table talking to attendees about gun safety,” particularly about options available to gun owners with children.
By ignoring the expo, the media also ignored a “Gun Ownership 101 for Women” workshop, which was “attended by about 30 women interested in connecting with resources designed to help women with all aspects of gun ownership.”
That seminar featured important contributions from expo co-organizer Gretchen Morris, a local businesswoman and a new gun owner who is currently going through the learning curve of training and getting a carry permit, and who wanted to share her experiences with other women who are considering following suit.
“We wanted to reach out to others in the community, especially women, who may be intimidated about seeking information,” Morris stated, because women represent one of the fastest-growing demographics of gun owners.
“Women often want to learn in a softer environment, they want to hear what works for other women,” Morris elaborated, contending that sharing information with them is often more effective when different approaches from traditional male-oriented training techniques are used.
That the press would ignore an event devoted to safe gun ownership with special emphasis on keeping children safe puts to the lie the contention that those who would impose more restrictive gun laws do so with gun safety being their motivation. Here was an event put on by people with actual qualifications that was designed around the concept of true and informed gun safety, one that even had law enforcement support, and the press could (would) not be bothered to inform the public.
This, of course, is but one more in a long line of documented examples where the fiction of a supposedly unbiased press has been shown to be a myth, and worse, a fraud. Their undisguised anti-gun advocacy is what Vice President Joe Biden said he was counting on when he cited “legitimate news media” as being instrumental allies. These are the “professionals” Dianne Feinstein calls “real reporters,” and wants the federal government to afford special protections to.
Those wishing to learn more about this weekend’s event, and especially Minnesotans who want to join up with the activists who organized it, can find out more at the Minnesotans for the Right to Keep & Bear Arms website, and the Twin Cities Gun Owner and Carry Forum Facebook page and Twitter account.
Likewise, those wishing to contact Twin Cities media about their shameful deliberate indifference to informed gun safety are encouraged to do so, and to then share whatever excuses they make. Their dereliction of duty should be thrown back in their faces every time they fraudulently misuse the term “gun safety” with the actual intent of stumping for even more infringements.
