There are three major news sources that constantly publish “fake news” on guns and gun control: The Huffington Post, The New York Times and The Washington Post. These “news” sources have an entirely reliable record of parroting the civilian disarmament industrial complex’s party line on gun control — without context or “fact checking.” In yesterday’s Post . . .

David Weigel (above) wrote about the fight over gun control in a Montana special election. I’ve already blogged the story here. Basically, the Democratic candidate for Representative, Rob Quist, floated the idea of a national gun registry. Here’s the quote again [via meanwhilemontana.com]:

“They’re only meant to kill people. So maybe there should be some legislation to register those types of things. You register your car to drive, why not register guns.”

Note: Quist was referring to all AR-15-style (i.e., semi-automatic) rifles. Not hunting rifles or handguns. Here’s how The Post’s scribe reported the controversy in his piece To deflect gun rights criticism, Montana Democrat shoots a TV:

Democrats are increasingly bullish on their chances in Montana’s May 25 special election, in which country-folk singer Rob Quist is competing for the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives. One problem: In a January interview, Quist floated the idea of legislation to create a registry for automatic weapons.

Politically, it didn’t matter that he left handguns and rifles out of the idea, or that some heavy weapons already must be registered. Republicans, always looking for a kill shot, began portraying Quist as a gun grabber. An ad from the National Republican Congressional Committee threw images of hunting rifles on-screen and said Quist would create a “gun registry,” leaving the impression that he’d take away every gun he could.

As you the quote above clearly indicates, Quist did not float the idea of legislation to create a federal registry for automatic weapons — all of which must be registered with Uncle Sam. Quist floated the idea of legislation to create a registry for semi-automatic rifles. Which includes the majority of rifles in Montana and everywhere else.

Bottom line: Quist did not leave rifles out of his registration idea. That is a lie.

More than that, Mr. Weigel fails to explain the connection between a federal gun registry and gun confiscation, stating only that the [mischaracterized] semi-automatic rifle registration proposal leaves the “impression” that Mr. Quist wants to confiscate all firearms. An assertion that no one but Mr. Weigel has made. It’s the fear of the federal confiscation driving this “debate.”

If nothing else, Mr. Weigel’s use of the completely inappropriate, incendiary term “heavy weapons” reveals his ignorance, his anti-gun rights agenda and his bias. And the ignorance, bias and anti-gun rights agenda of his editors. And The Post’s publisher. Which highlights their hypocritical love of “fake news.”

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37 COMMENTS

  2. Pravda on the Potomac is at it again. The WaPo constantly puts out deceptive content on guns and seems to make no attempt to get the other side of the argument. Which, to me, is supremely lazy as the Commonwealth of Virginia is only a few miles and a river crossing away. Say what you will about the bluing of Virginia, the suburban counties are still quite gun friendly (comparatively so) and yet somehow…someway…our streets are not running red with blood. That being said, the Post does host the Volokh Conspiracy which is an exceptional libertarian blog.

  4. None of my rifles are heavy. All weigh around 6-7 pounds. As far as I’m concerned there should be a complete roll back of all gun laws starting with the 86 machine gun ban. We have tried it their way for going on 90 years now. Now it’s time to go back to constitutional law and forbid all infringement period. No NFA, no nothing.

  5. I’m not sure which “heavy weapons” are being referenced here, but .50 cal guns are the biggest not labeled “destructive devices” we can have, and they are not registered.
    Even 12 gauge shotguns are “destructive devices,” but do not need to be registered.
    These idiots have no idea that they are talking about, and it amazes me that anyone listens to them, given how easy it is to show that they are idiots.

    • Interesting fact: the .50 BMG cartridge has never, ever, not even once, been used to murder someone in the United States of America. Yet .50 BMG rifles are always somewhere on the list of guns to ban.

      Hmm…could it be, just maybe, the fact that an anti-material rifle would be a handy tool in a righteous insurgency?

        • Damn it! I knew the correct spelling, I just wasn’t thinking straight when I typed it. I’m an Infantry officer AND have a Bachelor’s in English, so the shame is doubled!

        • I’m all for banning hand held anti-material weapons, since they would likely annihilate large portions of the planet including the user if activated.

  6. He’s got the raccoon face. At least he gets outside and gets some sun (which is actually more than I expected).

    Gotta give him credit for something.

  7. “They’re only meant to kill people. So maybe there should be some legislation to register those types of things. You register your car to drive, why not register guns.”

    Yeah that’s exactly why the founding fathers wrote the second amendment. So when a government becomes overbearing and unjust the people can overthrow them by force.

    This registry would be nothing more than a “potential domestic enemies” watch list.

    Which it’s interesting this idea was floated with no remarks about increasing public safety or decreasing gun violence (IIRC). Seems the dems finally found a gun control measure even they and MSM couldn’t spin as something supposedly positive to our country’s safety

    • Regarding the idea of a registry, even if we put aside concerns regarding liberty, there are still serious concerns about privacy. If the government had a comprehensive central database of private gun ownership how long would it remain private until some foreign country or hacker stole it? As a former federal employee I can personally attest that Uncle Sam has a piss poor track record on guarding people’s personal information.

      • Not to mention the ability and fact that previous and even future administrations can and will weaponize certain federal agencies to advance their cause (*ahem* IRS/Lois Lerner).

        • Indeed. If such a registry existed the temptation to “do something” with it on the part of some bureaucrat would be overwhelming. D.C. attracts the worse kind of people.

      • Tell me about it, I have a nice bit of identity theft protection because Uncle Sam allowed my information to be stolen.

        Politicians can’t be trusted with that sort of list anyways. They have a good track record if demonizing people they oppose and stirring up anger and hated against them. Wouldn’t be the first time a politician swept up the people to take up arms against “enemies of the state”

  8. They want me to register automatic weapons?
    That means owning unregistered automatic weapons is legal right now? No class 3 license, not even a tax stamp, no stupid laws made in 34 and 86?
    That’s great news, thank you washington post. I’ll get myself one right away.

  9. So, Weigel finally gve up on the fiction that he was conservative, that he used to try to peddle?

  10. The left press does not distinguish between semiautomatic AR15s and fully automatic M16s or M4s. They all look the same, they hold lots and lots of bullets (or are they “shells”?) with their 30 round clipazines, and they all shoot 3o rounds per second, spraying rooms with slaughter and death. They are only “meant to kill,” no one needs 30 rounds to shoot Bambi, and therefore no one has a good reason for owning one unless they want to go killing people. (Or to some, poodles.)

  13. The leftist ideology is so entrenched in popular culture and so many follow it blindly, no different than the followers of an obscure religious cult which decries, “obey our dictum to a fault or face ostracization from the herd.” True intellectualism is replaced by the dogmatism of the temple of the university, which has become the place to ensnare unsuspecting youth in the false beliefs of victimhood and moral-relativism. Our future might be unarmed followers who rely on an oppressive government. This is great news for hostile entities and groups that have a hard on for a weakened society. They take our second amendment rights and we will suffer from the first getting stripped. Stay armed, stay vigilant. The battle is immediately won, but the war has just begun. The media iconoclasts are working harder than ever to facilitate our enslavement.

  14. After being used for the intended purpose of killing as many people as quickly as possible, it will no doubt be a great comfort to the family and friends of the victims to know that the “assault weapon” had been registered with the government.

    • Step 1 – Registration. Do it for the children!

      Step 2 – Ban on registered items, (What else can one do with a list of owners and items they own?) In minds of antis same as physical disapearing of same. Poof, gone!

      Step 3 – Using Registration lists to make sure all banned items actually did disappear and Confiscation of those that for some uncomprehensible reason didn’t.

      Step 4 – Creation of black market (stealing, smuggling and bootlegging) for registered, banned and confiscated items. In effect financing criminals who, being criminals, did not register anything and jump at another source of illegal income. Snowballing of crime as a result. See The Prohibition and War on Drugs.

      Step 5 – Creation of government agency to fight aforementioned black market. Or expanding field of existing agency, just beefing it up and giving it much bigger funding and powers. Alcohol… Tobacco… Firearms… Explosives… Realy big fires…

      Step 6 – PROFIT! For both the government and for criminals. Sometimes hard to see who is which. Like say Leland Yee.

      Step 7 – GO TO Step 1 and register something else.

  15. Well, I suspect that Weigel is not all that widely read in Montana, especially among potential Republican voters.

  16. Bezos owns the Washington post . Think about where your money goes when you buy from amazon.

  17. “Weigel”? “Weigel”? “Weigel”? Why is that those whose ancestors suffered the most under totalitarian regimes are always the most rabid gun-grabbers and Leftist propagandists?

  18. I can’t see Weigel’s argument here. He’s operating in a target-rich environment for sure, going after three of the worst “fake news” purveyors, but either there’s no target right here or he misses it.

  19. Why does nobody pay attention to the giant-ass elephant in the room?

    The New York Times is owned by Sulzberger, and the Washington Post is owned by Bezos…

    These two civilians’ media products are constantly pushing more gun control for little people. Their civilian owners can be seen daily with their hired gunmen. When I personally saw civilian Bloomberg in DC years ago he had five hired guns hovering around him. By my count that’s 10 (counting backups) high-powered automatic weapons these dudes are carrying.* Bloomberg is maintaining these weapons for his own personal self defense… these guys aren’t gun controllers, they are paranoid gun nuts. Why do the these civilians NEED all this high powered automatic weaponry? Why is this allowed? Why aren’t we attempting to close the billionaire gun loophole?

    *To make a “commonsense” deduction on what billionaires are carrying. Google bodyguard companies. Go to images. Count the first hundred pictures of guns. When I did this, 99 we’re automatic weapons ;^) and one was a pump action shotgun.

  20. The majority of rifles in most states are semi-auto? Almost every rifle owner I know has more bolt guns than semi-autos. That said, that is just my own experience and not a useful statistic.

    • Yet a short drive north is a state where varmint hunters are few and far between, and the most common rifle in the deer woods by far is the .30-’06 Remington 74xx / 7500, with a few BARs (and even Mini-14s, for some reason) thrown in for good measure. I don’t see many bolt-actions around here, whether in the field or at the range. I own two bolt guns (my .22LR tackdriver and a Mosin 91/30), but also have three semi-auto rifles.

      I remember a lot more lever actions around when I was much younger (my brother-in-law still hunts with his Marlin in .35 Rem), but the past few decades it seems everyone in Wisconsin owns a semi-auto hunting rifle. And that’s not even counting the proliferation of AR-pattern rifles over the past 5-10 years!

      So yeah, just my experience also – but I think it’s fairly representative of this state, at least, and I would guess many others now that ARs have exploded in popularity.

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