Media Ignores Call For Gun Violence Prevention In Loughner Sentencing Hearing [View all]

ABC, CBS, and USA Today ignored a call for strong gun violence prevention laws included in statements by Mark Kelly on behalf of his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at the sentencing hearing for Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner.



While ABC, CBS, and USA Today reported on Kelly's statement to Loughner that "you may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven't put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place," they ignored his comments about the role of high capacity magazines in the shooting and concerns that he and Giffords have about the enforcement of gun laws.

Giffords and Kelly took Arizona governor Jan Brewer to task for downplaying the role of high-capacity gun magazines in the January 2011 shooting that killed six and seriously wounded Giffords and 13 others: "In this state, we have elected officials so feckless in their leadership that they would say, as in the case of Governor Jan Brewer, 'I don't think it has anything to do with the size of the magazine or the caliber of the gun.' She went on and said, 'Even if the shooter's weapon had held fewer bullets, he'd have another gun, maybe. He could have three guns in his pocket' - she said this just one week after a high-capacity magazine allowed you to kill six and wound 19 others before being wrestled to the ground while attempting to reload."

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/09/media-ignores-call-for-gun-violence-prevention/191312