Watching NRA president Wayne LaPierre address the hostile media this morning was a bizarre experience, even for someone like myself who stopped being surprised by the craven media years ago. While the media snarked away at the press conference in real-time — praising the protestors who called the NRA killers, mocking the event before it was over, nit-picking it before it began — at the very same time the media just couldn’t understand why the NRA wouldn’t take questions.
Gee, there’s a brain teaser. The left-wing media will have its chance Sunday morning when LaPierre guests on “Meet the Press.” In the meantime, by keeping our unbiased, open-minded, objective media at bay, the NRA is now able to get its message out. The unbiased, open-minded, objective media’s only goal today would’ve been to try and trip LaPierre up and make “that” the story.
Worse still, though, is how our media is determined to stop, vilify, dismiss, and ridicule any solution to these mass-killings that doesn’t involve their pet-issue, gun control.
LaPierre proposed something we could do immediately to protect schoolchildren, something he’s proposed in the past — that before our kids return to school in January, we do whatever’s necessary at a national and local level to ensure our schools are protected by an armed policeman, ex-serviceman, or someone else trained and certified in the use of a firearm.
And what was the response from a media that in most cases is itself protected by armed guards? An almost universal howl of derision. This in the face of polls (only dutifully reported by the media) that show the American people back the NRA’s idea.
LaPierre not only suggested this idea, he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is to help institute it. The NRA has already launched the National School Shield Emergency program. It will be headed up by former Congressman Asa Hutchinson. The program’s primary goal will be to aid in the training of armed security and in the fortification of school buildings.
And still the media howls in derision — the same media currently protected by armed guards in and around their own workplaces.
But this, of course, is a protection they want but don’t want America’s schoolchildren to have.
The question, though, is why — why does the media want our children left unprotected?
The answer’s a simple one…
Over the past week, the media’s effectively flipped the post-Sandy Hook debate off of school safety and on to gun control. In their partisan, mercenary minds, this tragedy is not a red flag to secure our schools, but rather an opportunity to check off a laundry list of gun restrictions. The Left and the media also see the exploiting of this tragedy as a way to blister the NRA, divide the GOP, and further tarnish the Republican party as extremists.
So as you can see, the media’s agenda is about a lot of things; but it’s most certainly not about protecting America’s school children.
By mocking and dismissing the NRA’s ideas even before the presser was over, the media’s goal is to keep those ideas out of the national debate. The media’s worried that if an attractive and common sense approach, like guarding our nation’s 100,000 schools like we do banks and jewelry stores, takes hold, the head of public opinion steam Obama’s ginning up to grab our guns will lose momentum.
In short, for reasons of their own, too many in the elite media would prefer to leave our schools unguarded and our children sitting ducks if it means losing this round in the gun control debate.
Security for me, but not for the wee.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.