Local Reporter's Hottest of Takes on the NRA Annual Meeting

We talk a lot about press bias here at the HQ, but just when you think you've seen every form of it imaginable, along comes a headline like the one that graced the front page of the Nashville Tennessean above the fold on the final day of the NRA Annual Meeting ...

Oy! Where do you even begin with this nuclear fireball of yellow journalism?

First, the obvious ... if the reporter had been interested in getting information out as a public service, wouldn't it make more sense to do it before the convention? Of course, there is literally no news here; it's just an after-the-fact smear of NRA and its members using the logic:

1) Big conventions can draw sex trafficking
2) The NRA convention is huge
3) There must be huge amounts of sex trafficking at the NRA convention

Also, you'll never guess who they also note is apparently into sex trafficking in a big way:

At the Republican National Convention in Tampa in 2012, anti-trafficking advocates grew alarmed at posts on Craigslist and Backpage -- a site notorious for prostitution solicitations -- that specifically advertised sexual liaisons to conventioneers.

NRA members and the GOP are all about the sex traffic and #WarOnWomen. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton's pal Jefferey Epstein is flying him to islands for sex with underage girls ... allegedly ... with nary a peep from the media. Outrageous.

What makes this piece particularly maddening is that inside the convention hall, the NRA spent 3 days promoting the ultimate form of women's empowerment. As S.E. Cupp wrote (and referenced in her remarks to the convention):

Likewise, I listened carefully but heard no outrage from women's rights groups over the University of Colorado's tips for female students to avoid being attacked. Some bordered on the absurd, like "vomiting or urinating may convince the attacker to leave you alone." Others were downright offensive, like "passive resistance may be your best defense."

Alternatively, the NRA supports campus carry, and NRA courses like Women on Target teach responsible firearms handling and use.

On Saturday, Ben K., the Daily Caller's Kerry Picket and I had lunch with a couple of folks from NRA's public relations shop. The main topics of conversation (other than our remarks about the extremely slow service) centered on Picket's desire for NRA to become more active in outreach to inner-city women and my giving an overview of Women on Target and relating how much I enjoy participating as an instructor.

NRA members are literally helping women defend themselves. This is diametrically opposite to the impression the media in general, and this piece in the Tennessean in particular, are imparting. As Jim Geraghty noted in his post-convention wrap-up, they just don't understand us (and don't have any particular desire to):

If you're a particular kind of snot-nosed urban progressive, the NRA Convention -- this year held in the country-music capital of the world, Nashville -- is the perfect opportunity for smug eye-rolling, relished disdain, and incredulous scoffing that people actually live and think like this in the year 2015.

The event offers a buffet table of everything the progressive Left scorns and abhors. Start with kids and teens picking up inoperative pistols and rifles in the "nine acres of guns and gear" in the exhibit hall. They're surrounded by more than 70,000 attendees, many clad in American-flag gear, Harley Davidson T-shirts, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and bolo ties. They browse the wares and move on to conference seminars like "Survival Mindset: Are You Prepared?" and "Sheepdogs! The Bulletproof Mind for the Armed Citizen."

This is especially true as it pertains to women, since the left loves to portray gun ownership as the exclusive province of white, male yahoos with hair triggers. Out here in the real world, however, women represent the fastest-growing segment in the shooting sports. And the left can't stand it.

Related: Blogger Butts, Green Grass, & Imaginary Victims: The Media Embarrassed Themselves Covering the NRA Annual Meeting

posted by Andy at 12:58 PM

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