If there was any lingering doubt that most media is in the tank for gun control, let those doubts die. ProPublica is giving America proof that facts will be manufactured to fit a narrative, intellectual curiosity is dead among investigative journalists and journalistic integrity is nothing more than a naïve dream of an idea that never truly existed.
ProPublica – a nonprofit investigative journalism outlet – published a glowing feature of Ryan Busse, the senior advisor for Giffords’ gun control group. He’s the gun control advocate who regularly poses with high-end side-by-side shotguns, plaid shirts and talks about wanting his guns for hunting but not everyone else for all other lawful reasons. He reminds everyone he was once a firearm industry advertising executive. However, he’s since had a change of heart and disdains the firearm industry. He’s also the witness on Capitol Hill who demands that Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and standard-capacity magazines should be banned. ProPublica gave Busse carte blanche to opine on “gun violence” and indict the firearm industry for the insane criminal actions of deranged individuals.
What’s worse is that ProPublica’s author in the article, Cory G. Johnson, a Pulitzer prize winner, was called out by NSSF for manufacturing false facts out of whole cloth. No correction has been posted more than 72 hours after the mistake was acknowledged.
Fake News
In the second paragraph of Johnson’s ProPublica feature with Busse, Johnson wrote, “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, guns became the leading killer of children and teens in 2020, overtaking car crashes, drug overdoses and disease for the first time in the nation’s history.”
Except that’s not true. The CDC never made that claim. In fact, when the actual study is closely examined, that entire narrative falls apart.
The University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention published the study in 2022 making the claim that firearms were the leading cause of death among children, surpassing motor vehicles for the first time in history. The problem is that’s patently false.
The study’s authors – Dr. Jason Goldstick, Dr. Rebecca Cunningham and Dr. Patrick Carter – arrive at that conclusion by including 18 and 19-year-old adults in their sample groups. That’s purposely misleading to have the narrative drive the data instead of the data driving a conclusion. Eighteen and 19-year-olds are also commonly referred to as “adults.” They’re not children at all. When those two age-groups are back out of the study, the “leading cause of death among children” is no longer guns, but motor vehicles.
The narrative is false. Yet ProPublica – a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative outlet – published this false fact. Just because President Joe Biden and gun control groups repeat this false assertion, doesn’t mean it is true. It gets worse, however.
No Correction
ProPublica reached out to NSSF to begin a long-term investigative project more than a month ago. Upon seeing this false fact published, NSSF contacted another ProPublica reporter. That reporter contacted Johnson with the correct information and that reporter also told NSSF that it would be corrected. More than 24 hours on, the false fact is still there.
No correction. No acknowledgement that a mistake in reporting was published. ProPublica is allowing this false fact that guns are the leading cause of child deaths to remain. Correcting it would alter the narrative that the firearm industry is to blame for the deranged murderous actions of individuals with no respect for life or law.
Go Along. Get Along
That’s not the only issue with ProPublica’s reporting. It is nothing short of a free platform for gun control to vent an unchallenged stream-of-consciousness tirade. ProPublica’s Johnson provides Busse a blank canvas to paint the firearm industry as a racist and radical cabal. He poses questions such as, “Where are we, as a nation, on guns? And where do you think we need to go?” There was also, “What do you attribute this trend to?,” and “Are there others in the gun industry who share your view?”
Of course, the firearm industry never heard from ProPublica for this report. It allowed Busse to cast the gun control narrative unchallenged. There was no probing his answers or demanding facts to justify his claims. Busse’s assertions that heinous crimes are the fault of firearm manufacturers and advertising were accepted without challenge. There wasn’t an attempt substantiate these allegations.
Nor was there a challenge for his thoughts on the fact crime in general is much higher. There weren’t questions of lack of law enforcement resources or the effect of the “defund the police movement” which his own gun control group gave a tacit wink-and-nod to by supporting Black Lives Matter’s demand that policing be defunded and dismantled across America. There was no delving into the tough questions of the role mind-altering medications might have played since an overwhelming number of these murderers were treated for mental illness. There’s a glaring lack of curiosity of Busse’s thoughts of the lack of criminal prosecutions, or inactions by the public and authorities to act on warning signs by these murderers.
Dig Deeper
NSSF was critical of Busse’s assertions, injecting the challenges that ProPublica didn’t seem necessary. It also reminded readers that Busse isn’t a disinterested party that had a change of heart of lawful gun ownership. He is a paid senior advisor for Giffords gun control group. He is literally paid to attack the firearm industry, which he does on a regular basis.
It used to be investigative journalism would warn the public of special interest groups attacking their rights. ProPublica is proving that they’re happy to give them the vehicle to do it.
Lawrence G. Keane is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association.
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