Monday, November 3, 2008

Calling Captain Obvious

Here's another sad but misleading PSH story about "assault rifle violence":

An ex-convict who said he thought he was being robbed gunned down a 12-year-old trick-or-treater, spraying nearly 30 rounds with an assault rifle from inside his home after hearing a knock on the door, police said Saturday.
So we have the words "assault rifle" and "sprayed" mentioned several times throughout the article, but can anyone point out the glaring problem here? The focus of the opening line, as well as the entire article, is all about how the weapon caused the tragedy. Nothing about how ex-convict Quentin Patrick obtained a firearm at all considering he couldn't get it legally, or how the numerous laws that have been passed failed to do anything.

Despite the fact that a rifle is not a malicious living being and cannot assault, the article makes light of the charges that are now brought upon the man which include assault; an action that he was more than capable of, thus telling me that the reporter who wrote this article should know the difference.

The title would have made much more sense if it read "Assault felon kills kid with rifle," but that would be too hard.

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