We are living through several social experiments running at the same time. Unfortunately for us, the outcome is uncertain. We went from 3 TV channels and 4 radio stations to hundreds of media channels running 24 hours a day and seven days a week. In theory, the news media was supposed to inform us so we could be responsible members of a democracy.
In fact, the media delivers click-bait sensationalism and 20+ minutes of commercials each hour. On top of that, we have a world of information in our pockets. That was supposed to leave us better informed. Instead, we're fed corporate propaganda and told what we "need" to buy. I've watched the media create the false impression that gun owners in the United States are dangerous. Those media inconsistencies are easy to find.
One obvious example is that the MSM calls a gun a "patrol rifle" or a "personal defense weapon" when a government employee carries it, but they call the same piece of plastic, aluminum, and steel an assault weapon if it is in my wife's hands. We're told that a gun is completely ineffective to affect government behavior, and yet the same gun is "much too dangerous" to be left in the hands of honest civilians. It seems the media, and some government officials, want it both ways.
Yes, the media lies to us about who owns guns in the United States. I think I know why. The media stereotyped gun owners for years. They call us old-white-rednecks, yet most new gun owners are women and minorities. For obvious political reasons, the media doesn't want us to know what today's gun owners look like.
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"Mass media pummels us with horrific images after a mass murder. They seldom show us the mass murders that were stopped by armed civilians. The media never shows us the good news to the same extent as the bad."