Bill,

I’ve watched your show on and off over the years, often nodding my head in agreement and infrequently shaking my head in disagreement. In the few times I’ve disagreed I at least thought you put forth an intelligent, thought provoking argument that left me thinking about the topic in a new light. This can not be said of your Impact Segment on July 24th regarding gun control. To call some of the points you made (while yelling at your guest) “inaccurate” would be putting it lightly. The following is a brief list of corrections for the most egregious falsehoods you shouted incoherently during the program . . .

  1. James Holmes did not posses a fully automatic firearm…or even an AK47 (semi or full auto). He had one Remington 870 (12 gauge pump shotgun), a Smith and Wesson AR-15 (semi-auto) and two Glock .40 caliber pistols (semi-auto).
  2. Fully automatic weapons (machine guns) already have mandatory registration with the BATFE (since 1934 with the National Firearms Act)) and the manufacture of them for civilian purchase have been banned since 1986 (with the Firearms Owners Protection Act). Read that one more time…. you’re calling for registration of a class of firearms that already require registration. Or is there some kind of double registration that’s supposed to stop people who don’t follow the law from breaking the law? Is this double registration like double, secret probation?
  3. Transferring any NFA item (including machine guns) from one individual to another is heavily regulated and requires a $200 tax stamp ($5 for AOW’s). Individuals must get a signature from their chief law enforcement officer, pass an FBI background check, submit profile pictures, and submit fingerprints. Transfer times are increasing and are taking in excess of 6 months by the BATFE. The laws that govern this are at the federal level and there are no exceptions for the location of the transfer (even gun shows).
  4. Jim Holmes purchased ~6,000 rounds of ammunition. Most of the time you stated it was 60,000 rounds (and at one point said 16,000). Most of the time you were off by a factor of 10….or roughly $30,000 worth of ammunition.
  5. Your criteria for registration and subsequent “checking up by the FBI” (I think you really mean BATFE) would flag tens if not hundreds of thousands of individuals. The BATFE can’t even keep up with the paperwork on NFA transfers as it stands today….it would be physically impossible for them to physically check up on a fraction of the law abiding individuals you’re asking for. Not to mention that there’s been zero indication that Jim Holmes would have been flagged for suspicious activity by either the FBI or BATFE.
  6. Any suggestion that making firearms inaccessible to Jim Holmes—a man that left dozens of home made grenades as booby traps in his apartment—would have prevented this tragedy is absurd. It’s almost as absurd as listening to people who think banning so called “high capacity” magazines would have stopped events like Columbine, which was carried out using “high capacity” magazines that were banned at the time.

I really want to continue my list, but I don’t think it would serve any purpose. Bottom line: you have no idea what you’re talking about in regards to firearms.

You called for registration of firearms that already require it, confusing the types of weapons used, making up terms for classifications of firearms that don’t exist (or inaccurately describe the weapons used), absurdly inflating the number of rounds purchased and making a general fool of yourself yelling at your guest when you are dead wrong on all of your points.

Your arguments seemed to be more of a mixture of populace, knee jerk hysteria and general media inaccuracies. Do yourself and your viewers a favor: contact a lawyer that specializes in firearms before you speak on this subject again.

Sincerely,

-Eric

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96 COMMENTS

    • Bill is not a closet progressive. He’s an out of the closet jackass. I can understand the confusion, however, since they’re almost the same thing.

        • Actually, I said that. I get something like 5 – 10 clips of his forwarded to me a year from politically like-minded people….so I get a fairly filtered representation of what he’s all about. It’s been years since I turned the dial on the tube to his show.

        • mikey, had Will Rogers met you, the world would have been deprived of a really great quote.

      • I have the Jack Ass Club, Klan and Order of Fraternal Friars on line one. They categorically deny any association with Bill O’Reilly.

  2. Do you mean to tell me that a television personality knows as much about guns as a New York congresswoman and a California senator? Wonders never cease…

    • I was flipping through channels and saw lawrence o’donnell (msnbc)saying bill o’reilly was dumb because he was saying things about far left on gun control and then trying to introduce his own gun control….. about reporting certain nfa weapons to the fbi/ atf…..instead of saying bill wasnt already aware of this. Sometimes I feel like a genius.

  3. I watched this interview and almost choked on my drink. The Congressmen, who seemed to know exactly who regulated what and what required licensing was shouted down by O’Reilly no less than 4 times. As soon as the interview was over I sent O’Reilly an email (yeah, I’m sure he’ll read it.) Clarifying these same points. Tried to be as pithy as I could be, telling him not to bloviate. What a poltroon!

      • This was the e-mail:

        You shouted down the Congressmen who is correct on firearms regulations. You need an FFL issued by BATF to get an automatic rifle. What you call assault weapons are only cosmetically different from hunting rifles. They fire standard rifle rounds and are not heavy weapons and only fire one round at a time. By the way, the Colorado shooter bought 6000 rounds not 60000. Get it right Bill.

        John Eliyas, MA, IACFP

        • John, I know it’s a nit, but you only need an FFL to deal in firearms. To own an NFA controlled firearm what you need from the BATFE is to be processed which involves a background check and local LEO approval followed by their issuance of a transfer tax stamp. Cost of the stamp is $200 for automatic weapons, but can be as little as $5 for other items.

    • Isn’t that how his shows operates? He has a guest, then interrupts and shouts him down as only his opinion matters and is right. Dude suffers from an overinflated ego and the erroneous assumption that he knows everything about anything, better than an expert in a given field.

      • “Dude suffers from an overinflated ego and the erroneous assumption that he knows *anything about anything…”
        ——
        Fixed.

      • and you will never hear about it again, im sure his method is like most anchors, to instill fear and uncertainty about something the untrained ears have no need to write off as fiction.

        • There’s a “reporter’s reference” chart floating online that shows all types of pistols and rifles and (in jest) the chart lists them all as full auto AK 47 assault rifles (or something like that). The sad part is, BillO and other media types seem to think the chart is real.

  5. Not that we know all the details of the crime yet…but their is certainly allot more we can find wrong with the entire knee jerk reaction to this event.

    Some which would require some “critical thinking” on the behalf of some of our media. For example…so what…he ordered 6000 rounds. He certainly wasn’t carrying 6000 rounds when they caught him. That shi*t is heavy. That 100 round drum mag he had…did him and his goal..no favors. They are notorious for jamming. They are a novelty item at best…probably took him quite a while to load it to. He wasn’t going to be reloading it anytime during that fiasco…..or that if his goal was killing as many as possible..he would have used a bomb or one of 30 grenades in his house…..or..as someone SO eloquently pointed out on one of the TTAG articles before…the odds of someone in the US being killed in a mass shooting spree is so small, “you would need a scientific calculator” to figure out the odds.

    You know what single law or best practice could have stopped this fiasco…a simple alarm on the fire exit…so that someone would have kicked out the door jam he used, and so that the staff at the theater would have known it was opened to begin with.

    This was a tragedy to be sure. But their is no need to make it worse with knee jerk laws.

    • Coyote Gray: …a simple alarm on the fire exit…

      The problem is that the fire exit isn’t only a fire exit. Those “down front” doors are very often used by theatre patrons as secondary exits, because they usually dump straight to the parking lot. This is by design to help traffic flow; they’re not doing anything wrong.

      • As I responded in another post here. I think those doors are set up with alarms, to alert the staff and security that someone could be letting their friends in without paying. It is obvious that the theater chains are more worried about profit and not security. But if there was an alarm, where were the employees/security to close the door or at least check out what was going on?

        • But they aren’t . They are exit doors. As Matt in FL stated, they empty to the parking lot. I use those doors to exit if the theater is full.

        • To Mike and Matt, I stand corrected, always thought they were alarmed to catch cheaters, my bad!

      • This is by design to help traffic flow; they’re not doing anything wrong.

        And, if they’re a fire exit, by law they must have alarms on them. They can turn the alarm off to allow people to leave at the END of the movie 2 1/2 hours later, but you can’t just turn it off all day.

        • Totenglocke: I’m not going to dispute that; it’s possible it is the law in some places. But in practice, I’ve never seen one alarmed. At one theatre I used to frequent, you could go out the front with the masses, and fight the parking lot and the horrible light to get out, or you could slip out the exit door to the back parking lot, down an access road, and be halfway across town while some were probably still fighting the light. I went the back way every time I saw a movie there for three years.

        • Matt, I think you’re confusing “back exit” with “fire exit”. There’s a difference between the two.

        • Totenglocke: I’m referring to the door “down front” inside the theatre itself. In Aurora, I don’t know if it is actually labeled “Fire Exit” because I’ve not seen it with my own eyes, but the “down front” doors I commonly use don’t have “Fire Exit” marked on them. The only thing they have is a green or red illuminated EXIT sign above the door. Those do not have to be alarmed because they are part of the buildings “common egress” route, but are also designated as one of the “emergency egress” routes. They are externally opening doors with crash bars, but no alarms, and no special labeling. I suspect that’s what the door in Aurora was, as well.

  6. Bill is a populist moron. Guns isn’t the only thing he’s shown his ignorance on. I’ve heard him spout off his “machine guns and bazookas” line many times before. Bill should do some fact checking on the chain emails he gets his info from.

  7. Well, since Fox’s “expert”, former NYPD Detective Bo Deedle kept referring to it as a fully automatic weapon, I’m prepared to cut Bill half a break on that point.

    • Bo Deedle. He comes from that long line of detectives that are hard to distinguish from mobsters.

      • Bo Dietl’s most recent gaffe was calling for the assassination of Julian Assange. No, really.

  8. It’s been a while, but…is the title a reference to The Office?

    That’s the problem with these raving media shock-“journalists.” Whether it’s Bill or Colmes, you can cheer and nod when they rant in agreement with you, but when they turn around and do this, you suddenly realize what a nutball they are (or, at the very least, irresponsible with facts).

    • It has been used in The Office, but was first used by Dan Aykroyd on SNL’s Weekend Update

      • “Jane… You ignorant slut.”

        Great skit and right on the mark. Too many media personalities reply to a well thought out argument with ignorant grandstanding. Bill O’Reilly and Piers Morgan seem to be brothers from another mother.

        On a side note the several of the personalities on Fox News seem to have an incredulous note in their reports about firearms. Maybe they have lived in NYC and LA too long.

        • Finally, the real truth about Bill O’Reilly. It describes him sooo well. Made my day.

  9. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning while being eaten by a shark and winning the lottery at the same time.

    • It’s thunderstorming right now, so I think I’ll go for a swim. ‘Cause ya never know. All you need is a dollar and a dream. And a wetsuit. And a long aluminum rod. And a lottery ticket. And maybe a bucket of chum.

      • Damn it Ralph!
        I just spewed coke all over my keyboard yet again!
        🙂
        I will take a craby patty with the chum bucket!
        Yes we need a bigger boat, We have a lot of wacko reporters to fill it with…

  11. The title is a reference to an old Saturday Night Live new skit. Dan Akroyd said to Jane Curtain, “Jane, you ignorant slut”

  12. re-enforces that my decision to not have cable or satellite tv was correct. they shouldn’t be called talking heads, vomiting heads would be more accurate.

  13. I think that Mr. O’Reilly suffers from the common ailment of spending too much time with people who share his views. After a while of hearing everyone you know agreeing with you, one begins to think that represents the majority view in the outside world, no matter how ill informed or outright ignorant.

  14. I turner off my TV because , I am tired of morons and lies , get better news on internet…

  15. Nowhere does the media show its lazy mendacity more than when it’s talking about guns and gun control.

  17. Add guns to oil prices on the list of things Bill O’Reilly is wrong about. I like his show generally and he does have a crop of hotties on there regularly.

  19. I saw the interview with the congressman (whose name escapes me). O’Reilly’s treatment was outrageous. He argued, despite the congressman’s best attempts to explain the laws correctly.

    Don’t expect a retraction or correction on anything O’Reilly said. He made the same ignorant statements the evening before. I tried to email him immediately after his “Talking Points” on Monday night. His site crashed. I’m sure he’s received thousands of emails from knowledgeable gun owners trying to correct him.

    He’s ignoring them.

  20. So much for the “no spin zone” huh? This is nothing new from this guy, you just caught it because it happens to be a topic you know more about than him. He does this a lot. This whole incident has people who know nothing about guns saying very stupid things, making very stupid generalizations, and using very stupid terms. I just tend to be one of those gun nuts who doesn’t get caught up in semantics and holler at people who confuse assault rifles with semi-automatic rifles….yes, I know they are technically two different types of weapons, but to the uninformed I just toss it in the semantics catagory. A coworker of mine was stating how she tought semi automatic rifles should be banned due to high capacity clips/drums, but had no problem with semi-automatic pistols. I didn’t bother pointing out to her that this guy could have walked in there with both Glocks using extended mags and the shotgun, not carrying the “assault rifle” at all, and done as much if not more damage, so I just find myself rolling my eyes frequently, waiting for the fervor to subside…

  21. O’Liely pretends to be conservative with libertarian leanings. Anyone who watches his program more than twice knows he is a populist. Populists are worse than liberals. A liberal at least has convictions (I happen to think they’re misguided, but they’re convictions none the less).

  22. I watched it too…for a while…until I got so mad I turned the channel. Such BS.

    The interview with Michael Moore I saw was even worse…his take on Aurora and the Trayvon Martin case shows that he’s somehow recently inherited an extra chromosome.

  23. Glenn Beck will be on Bills show Thursday, and suggested this morning that he would ask him about these discrepancies during that segment.

    Stay Tuned….

  26. Whoaaa Gee Golly! You mean to tell me that Bill O’Reilly is an over-inflated gasbag who doesn’t know dick but still feels free to pontificate on any given subject…

    Well thank you Captain Obvious.

    In case you haven’t noticed, Lots of folks in media these days seem to fit that profile to some degree.

    It seems to me that many folks who call themselves journalists seem to have missed out on all the other subjects (math, science, history, geography, social studies, world affairs, music, literature, etc) while they were at school for journalism… because many of these dopes are frighteningly ignorant.

    In O’Reilly’s case, I am not surprised because he doesn’t know anything. Its hard to learn if you can’t stop talking (and listening to yourself talk) and preening in the mirror.

  27. Stopped watching Bill in 2001 when he said “I have no bias”. Stop watching Fake News around the same time. Discovered that I can think for myself and do not need the latest Murdock/Rush/Corporate lie to know what to think. That is the best advice I can give to anyone, think for yourself and question what is the motive or slant(bias) from any news source.

    • Wow, that’s worse than what reading about it makes it sound.

      I would have loved to hear him just say, “Bill, you’re delusional, and you’re flat out making stuff up.”

  30. First off.. You watch that crap? Good god…. *eye rooll*

    Second.. Calling Bill or anyone on Fox out for lies, missrepresentations, slander, or any other word you can use for BULLSHIT, is a complete waste of time. The entire network is designed using a business model which promotes a fringe, sometimes radical right wing agenda. Sure sure sure the media is “liberal” because the majority of “liberal” viewers have an attention span greater than a gold fish. i.e How quickly the RNC forgets that Obama didn’t give uf $15trillion dollars worth of debt. Or perhaps how the “majority” of viewers are “liberal” also, known as INFORMED. In no way am I second guessing your intelligence, I’m just saying that TV is MASS media, the only way to cater to the masses is to dumb things down, make things exciting, spin an agenda that hopefully never arrives or is constantly changing as a means of keeping us entertained. If it had a pro gun agenda we would rest at ease, but it doesn’t, so naturally we argue with our libtards who think banning all guns means guns would just cease to exists. Fox news is by no means fair and balanced. Bill O’Reilly just screams at people, even when he’s wrong. He’s old enough to be my father, and thankfully my fathers generation seems to be the last wave of closed minded conservatives such as The Tea Party. Their children believe in so much more, and are some of the most informed voters this country has ever seen, that will help to bring about real change, and real freedom.

  31. I also sent Bill an email following yesterday’s episode. Text below:

    Bill,

    You are wrong on this one and the Congressman Chaffetz is correct. It is possible to buy semi-automatic weapons (including rifles similar in style to the fully automatic AK-47 and M-16) at a gun show; however, National Firearms Act items, such as fully automatic weapons, cannot be legally sold without a tax stamp issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. All sales of Title 2 items are strictly regulated. You can not buy a machine gun at a gun show.

    David Jones
    Kansas City, Missouri

  32. Great editorial!
    No one should ever be surprised by the garbage that comes out of Bill O’ s mouth.
    It has nothing to do with reality. He is an entertainer, not a journalist.
    He works for FOX NEWS. FOX News is entertainment, as is MSNBC. They are both spin casters , not factual reporters. I would enjoy watching these talking heads debate each other. FOX vs. MSNBC…..cage match :-)….. Most lies wins!

  34. I applaud and thank TTAG for kicking O’Reilly in his fat, sanctimonious butt. I’ve had some quarrels with TTAG over the last few months – have not posted in a while because of my irritation over gratuitous T&A in the past – but have to say that TTAG has done the gun-owning, 2nd Amendment audience a great service here. You’ve shown that 2nd Amendment supporters are NOT knee-jerk supporters of the GOP or the media outlets that generally support the GOP.

    O’Reilly is a pompous, overbearing, self-righteous and deaf jerk. I don’t care who the hell he votes for. Bravo, Mr. Farago.

    • Eric deserves the credit. But I’ve always had a major issue with that unctuous, self-righteous, impolite ass.

    • gratuitious t&a? did i miss something. let’s define gratuitious t&a. it must have been needed to advance the story line. i vote for more t&a,gratatious or not.

  36. Thanks for the great piece. I linked to it and credited you, Mr. Farago. People need to know that ignorant reactionary hysteria is counter-productive, no matter which side of the aisle or dial it comes from.

  38. Old Bill has always had a reputation for knowing what he knows and not letting a few facts get in the way. That interview was arguably one of the most egregious examples of that attitude that I’ve ever seen, filled with his wrong headed opinions and death grip on details that simply were not true.
    Very glad to see Beck and The Nuge taking him to task over this.

  39. No insult intended, Eric, but it’s “populist”, not “populace”.

    Other than that, you really took him to the woodshed.

    • None taken….I’d rather get it right than continue to say something incorrect. I’m not a very good writer. I’m surprised I got it as coherent as it is.

  40. You just discovered that Bill’s a misinformed television pundit toolbag? My opinion on the general intelligence level of the contributors to this website just plummeted.

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  42. “In the few times I’ve disagreed I at least thought you put forth an intelligent, thought provoking argument that left me thinking about the topic in a new light.”

    This is EXACTLY what I thought when I heard this segment. I don’t always agree with O’Reilly’s opinion but he has a long history of basing those opinions on facts and logic. This is an exception and it was like listening to him argue that the earth is flat.

  43. Highly disappointing to say the very least. He treated this Congressman with less shrift than I suspect he once showed his unfortunate students while a teacher. Very unprofessional and highly prejudicial segment.
    I have been shooting a long time now but I do not profess to be an expert on firearms. That said, even I would find it terribly tedious–and ultimately pointless–to point out one-by-one all of the mistakes O’Reilly made during this interview.
    It is easy to dismiss O’Reilly as merely ignorant–onthis topic, at least–but his open disdane for an elected official should have consequences. I believe in holding our officials to task, but as a loyal American, retired military, and proud civil servant, I can not abide his outrageous treatment of this “guest” on his show. This was nothing but an ambush.

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