Are you an anti-gun Australian journalist being shut down? Just whip out the victim card:
“RIFLES, handguns, shotguns, pistols, grenades, ammunition and knives — a smorgasbord of weapons is on sale at massive gun shows across America. Eager customers inspect stall merchandise like kids in a candy store, and try out shooting poses with their favourites, at one major exhibition in Pennsylvania on news.com.au’s visit.
For an international observer, it’s strange to see attendees stroll casually through the car park in the town of Harrisbugr with rifles slung over their shoulders and children at their side. “Some see a shooting range,” reads a sign over one stall. “I see a 2nd Amendment theme park.”
The complex is packed with families pushing babies in prams and young children who are already learning to shoot targets and hunt with their parents. Attendees pay $12 entry, a stall costs $80 and under 12s get in free.
As news.com.au explored the Harrisburg Gun Show, a large man in a neon orange shirt strode up to us. “You guys are gonna have to leave,” organiser Steven Elliott told us, after discovering where we were from.
“I’ve dealt with the Australian people before, they know full well they’re not allowed in any of my shows.” He said Australians had been “rude” and “ugly” to him at past events, and even alleged media had tried to run him over in a car.”
It’s unclear from the article whether it was actually Emma (from the accompanying video it sounds like her) or some other pleb from Newscorp that was told to leave the show but either way, good.
In other words, Newscorp tried to do the usual “this is what you can buy at a US gun show hurr mass shootings hurr think of the children hurr John Howard” type hit piece that we’ve seen ad nauseum and Mr Elliott told them quite frankly, where to go.
It’s almost as if Americans have had more than enough of some country in the South Pacific, who relies 100% on them for military protection, telling them to give up their constitutional rights and how to conduct their internal affairs? Who would’ve thought?
The rest of the article is the usual anti-gun nonsense that we’re used to from the Murdoch press. It also implies that “no Australians are welcome” which is a complete lie. It’s just the Australian media that aren’t welcome and for good reason. Many firearm owning Australians have attended and continue to attend gun shows (FOU were welcomed at Shot Show earlier this year) in the United States and have been embraced and welcomed (and in some cases even pitied).
This is the same Newscorp that’s complaining non-stop about the crime problem in Victoria, but making every effort to avoid the one topic that might empower victims: armed self-defence. This is also the same Newscorp that’s been running interference for NSW Police the last few weeks, in the midst of their debacle over the Commissioner’s Permit-NSWFAR scandal.
If you’re unfamiliar, one Google search of Emma Reynolds and guns returns a plethora of anti-gun articles. She’s a repeat offender, but nothing new there.
It’s a pretty simple equation: Americans don’t like being lectured to about their constitutional rights or about their own country, much the same as Australians don’t like being lectured to about ours’.
And on that front, perhaps Reynolds and Newscorp could put their time and energy into something worthwhile like investigating the undue amount of influence that China, a legitimate authoritarian Police state with legitimate national security implications, has on Australia?
But that would require defending freedom and with this latest effort, Reynolds and Newscorp again demonstrate quite clearly that they don’t know what that is.
If Emma put a bit of effort into investigating why the NSW Firearms Registry is not operating to a standard expected of a Government Department, then maybe we could see a bit of actual investigative journalism. For Emma to base her career around anti-gun stories means she will never advance very far in her chosen field.