{"id":61042,"date":"2020-10-24T14:17:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-24T19:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=61042"},"modified":"2020-10-25T00:04:49","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T05:04:49","slug":"61042","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=61042","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Media\u2019s double standard on the Second Amendment<\/a><\/p>\n

The Colorado Springs Gazette covered the tragic killing of a Patriot Muster supporter by smearing the protest\u2019s organizer, John Tiegen.<\/p>\n

(You know Tiegen from \u201c13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,\u201d the movie based on the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens. Tiegen and others guarding the compound fought off Ansar al-Sharia terrorists while pleading for help that never came.)<\/p>\n

Though BLM\/Antifa counter-protesters broke down a barrier and launched cans at the Patriots, they remained peaceful. However, as they were leaving, they were accosted in an ugly confrontation that culminated in the shooting death of one of their own. The shooter was immediately arrested and later charged with second-degree murder.<\/p>\n

On the following Monday, Oct. 12, in a front-page feature entitled \u201cProtest leader known in Springs,\u201d the Gazette appeared to blame Tiegen for his death.<\/p>\n

The article reprimanded Tiegen for being on a rooftop at an earlier BLM protest in Colorado Springs. It ominously described a rifle held by another man as \u201cmilitary-style\u201d and noted a \u201csighting scope, like those used by military snipers.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are misleading terms used to scare us about guns. Some 16 million AR-15s are legally owned by Americans for self-defense and sport. While it has military roots, it is clearly a civilian firearm and not a machine gun. I wonder if the reporter would describe the Jeep Wrangler as a \u201cmilitary-style\u201d vehicle?<\/p>\n

Note that no shots were fired from that rooftop, no laws were broken and no arrests were made. Their choice of the roof guaranteed no confrontations ensued. Tiegen himself was holding a dog, not a gun.<\/p>\n

Though the Gazette portrayed Tiegen\u2019s presence as threatening behavior, isn\u2019t it just as plausible to reason that Tiegen was there to keep someone from doing something stupid?<\/p>\n

In fact, law enforcement counts on Tiegen\u2019s power to persuade to keep the peace. For example, the reporter found this \u201ccoded\u201d warning posted by Tiegen before the protest: \u201cP.S. For Mechanical pencil that offers a concealed eraser, top lead advance and removable Clip no more than .15 mm lead allowed in each. City of Denver ordnance (sic).\u201d<\/p>\n

The reporter didn\u2019t know that Denver police had asked Tiegen to alert his supporters that Colorado\u2019s ban on magazines holding 15 rounds or more would be enforced. Police wanted to de-escalate; Tiegen then \u201ccoded\u201d his warning to avoid online censure (he\u2019s now been censored by Facebook and Instagram anyway).<\/p>\n

The reporter also found an obscure BLM leader from an \u201cactivist news outlet\u201d to declare, \u201cI always knew he\u2019d get someone killed. I just didn\u2019t know it would be someone on his side.\u201d<\/p>\n

As disgusting as this sentiment is, responsible journalism should unveil it \u2014 as long as it is balanced by countering opinion. However, the reporter did not quote a single Tiegen supporter for this article.<\/p>\n

Tiegen rebuffed the Gazette\u2019s request for comment. While unfortunate, this is understandable: Many gun owners have learned not to participate in their own lynching.<\/p>\n

The Gazette took a second swipe at the Second Amendment this past Sunday, asking, \u201cThe Bill of Rights gives us the right to bear arms and the right to assemble peacefully … does it give us the right to do both at the same time?\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is based on the false premise that the First and Second Amendments conflict with one another. In truth, one cannot exist without the other; You have no rights that you can\u2019t defend. The Second Amendment is the one right that guarantees all others, leveling the playing field for the weak vs. the strong.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s Gazette even goes so far as to blame guns for protest violence, claiming that \u201cThe presence of guns at protests has led to some tense moments and tragedies in recent months.\u201d Have they not noticed that these protests had already turned violent?<\/p>\n

If you, like millions of responsible Americans, are outraged at the criminal violence being visited upon our cities and are moved to join together in counter-protest, is it foolish to go unprepared? Or would you instead choose to just stay home, allowing your First Amendment right to be restricted for fear of being shamed \u2014 or arrested \u2014 for exercising your Second Amendment right to protect it?<\/p>\n

The difference in reporting on BLM protests and the Gazette\u2019s coverage of the Patriot Muster murder reveal the media\u2019s double standard on the Second Amendment: When BLM protests are hijacked by bad actors, they\u2019re defended as being \u201cmostly peaceful.\u201d But when the same thing happens to peaceful, freedom-loving armed protesters, the media questions if perhaps they brought it upon themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media\u2019s double standard on the Second Amendment The Colorado Springs Gazette covered the tragic killing of a Patriot Muster supporter by smearing the protest\u2019s organizer, John Tiegen. (You know Tiegen from \u201c13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,\u201d the movie based on the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi that killed U.S. … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-o-the-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61058,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61042\/revisions\/61058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}