CNBC's Report on Popularity of AR-15

VSSA received promotional emails from CNBC prior to the airing of last night's premier of "America's Gun - Rise of the AR-15."  We did not promote the program as it's not our job to advertise for CNBC and since we sell ad space on the Blog and the VSSA web site, they were free to buy a banner and have it in the rotation. We have come to expect that most firearm related reports done by the "Big 3" networks is anything but unbiased and figured this would be the same.  Google the name of the program and you will find that was the basic feeling of many in the firearm rights community frequenting message boards and blogs, before the program aired.

Mid-afternoon yesterday, NBC Universal sent out another email addressing the negative perception pre-airing of the program:

We have previously reached out to you regarding the CNBC documentary about the AR-15. Some of the feedback we have seen amongst AR-15 owners and gun enthusiasts is suggesting that we will be choosing a side or going to take a negative look at the AR-15.  

Portraying the AR-15 negatively is not the objective of the documentary and we can reassure all owners and enthusiasts that we aren't choosing a side. Our team wanted to understand the AR-15's immense popularity on both sides of the debate and go beyond the clichés. Please feel free to share this information with your network in addition to this additional clip from the special.

If the program had been completely like the below, it might have been a little easier to believe it was not their objective to give a negative impression of the rifles because this clip goes right to what they said was the point of the program, to understand the popularity of the AR-15:

But then there is also this in the program:



The mainstream media's version of "unbiased" is to reinforce what is generally in the public domain (i.e. the second video) rather than present the other side of the story so the public has a complete picture.  When you have a doctor describing wounds as "battlefield type wounds," that kind of reinforces the sterotype that the AR-15 is a "battlefield weapon" as Obama and Biden inaccurately describe them.

I guess I should be thankful that the segment with the dentist and real estate agent presented the side that the "typical" AR-15 owners are professioanls and not "anti-government tea-party types" but frankly that message gets lost when you then have a segment with the shooting victim and the doctors who treated her.  What do you think was their underlying message? The victim, Farrah Soudani, for her part did not blame the guns, but said it is, stupid people who kill people. She called for "mandatory psychological evaluations" before anyone can purchase a fiream, "especially one with the AR-15's characteristics."

If you did not see last night's airing and are interested in seeing the program for yourself, it will re-air on CNBC on Sunday at 9:00 PM.