You spin me right round

Wow. Why the press is in some sort of spin mode on the UA shooting is the question of the day.

There is the typical stuff and fluff that we get with every spree killer, like that so-and-so was lonely, depressed, had just lost a whole litter of puppies to famine. There is the also the vain attempt at directing blame at gun laws, like here where AP writer Desiree Hunter notes that Bishop didn't have a permit to spree shoot at a staff meeting. At least that's how I read it. Do you have to have a permit to own a firearm in Alabama? Do you think that if you did, an educated woman like Bishop would be paused at all in finding a gun? What does it matter?

It doesn't. It's spin. There has to be spin, has to be, because Massachusetts dropped the ball at putting a violent sociopath behind bars, and we can't let government failure singe the brain cells of the public.

"C'mon guys, there has to be another direction, any direction, that we can take this thing! Dungeons and Dragons? Perfect! Have it on my desk in an hour!"

We find out in a snippet all the way at the bottom of this piece that Amy Bishop was an Obama loving loon. What does that have to do with anything?

Nothing really. It's just that the press skews the facts about every violent lunatic, to the point where the public now believes that a murderous neo-nazi really is right wing, instead of someone aligned with the national socialist movement. It's right wing all the time, baby. Always will be.

Unless it's not, then it will be something else - like Grand Theft Auto, Slayer, D&D, the NRA.

However, I'll tell you where this shooting has made an impact: Perception.

This Sunday, when you see me OCing my big ol' honkin' Kimber in line at Starbucks after getting out of my mud soaked 4 wheel drive, you can stow that negative attitude, sport. Instead, save your suspicion for the frumpy looking woman sipping at her latte who pulled up in a Prius with a 'I Want To Have Obama's Babies' bumper sticker on the back. Is that a sawed off under that hemp coat, or are you just happy to see me?

Update: You don't need a permit to own a firearm in Alabama, as noted over at Hell in a Handbasket. And I agree with James' logic that the media is just that clueless about firearm ownership, that they have to add that 'permit' qualifier to the story because it involves guns.