A February 22 CNN report on the lawsuit filed against Remington firearms by nine Sandy Hook Elementary victims’ families and a teacher omits a crucial detail — the gunman stole the guns.
The report also omits the fact that the shooting happened in a gun-free zone. And this is a crucial point, because the report focuses on the “154 rounds” fired by gunman Adam Lanza without even mentioning that he could have fired a very high number with a pistol as well, because he faced no opposition. He was shooting without the trepidation and stress of having someone shoot back.
Moreover, Lanza’s shooting spree in that gun-free zone could have led to even more carnage if he used a weapon other than an AR-15; namely, a shotgun. To have minutes with a shotgun and no armed resistance would have most certainly raised the death toll in that heinous attack. After all, the Sandy Hook Advisory Committee Report shows that Lanza had just over nine minutes with no armed resistance.
But CNN does not look at those things. Instead, they paint an ominous picture of the AR-15, describing it as “a weapon originally created and designed by the US military to be fully automatic and used in combat.” And they indicate the lawsuit “[alleges] Remington, its distributors and sellers, have a legal obligation to safely market such a dangerous weapon.” The families involved in the suit contend that it is currently marketed otherwise.
Missing here is the fact that Lanza did not get his AR-15 from a distributor or seller. Rather, he stole it and all the other guns, one of which he used to shoot his sleeping mother dead before leaving the house on December 14, 2012.
CNN also pointed out that the AR-15 was the gun used in the July 2012 Aurora movie theater attack and that it was among the guns used in the December 2 San Bernardino terror attack. CNN did not mention that the Aurora theater gunman passed a background check for his rifle, nor did they mention that the AR-15s used in San Bernardino were acquired by a friend of the attackers who passed a background check for them as well.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.