New York Sun Editorial Slams Media CCW Critics
Date: Feb 17, 2007 2:43 PM
The New GUN WEEK, February 20,2007
Page 1

New York Sun Editorial Slams Media CCW Critics

An editorial about guns in a New York newspaper is hardly
unusual, but one that lambastes claims that more guns in the
hands of law-abiding citizens is bad for society is
something very rare.

The New York Sun, in a Feb. 2 editorial headlined
?Concealing the Facts,? took to task both The New York Times
and The Florida Sun-Sentinel over coverage of the concealed
carry statute in the Sunshine State. The Sun-Sentinel had
done several articles in which it decried the fact that some
convicted felons had obtained carry permits. (See related
story on Page 2)

In a few short words, The Sun made it clear that coverage of
the gun issue in the other newspapers was somewhat lacking
in perspective. In the newspaper?s own words, the subject
of gun control arouses an ?irrational streak in our
political debate.?

In a bold move for a Big Apple newspaper, The Sun editorial
bluntly noted, Predictions of wild-West style shootouts and
lawlessness have proven false. That?s not what happened.
Not in Florida or in any of the other 37 states with
legalized concealed carry.?

Instead, the newspaper noted, ?Since the Jack Hagler Self
Defense Act went into effect in 1987, crime in Florida has
gone down by almost every measure there is.?

?According to statistics provided by the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement,? The Sun noted, after having done some
homework The Times evidently did not, ?firearm murders in
Florida between 1987 and 2005 dropped in real terms to 521
from 697. Expressed as the number of firearm murders per
100,000 persons, the drop is even more dramatic, to 2.9 from
5.8. That?s a change of 50%. The drop in violent crime
overall is less precipitous but equally steady, including
drops in the rates of murder, aggravated assault, robbery,
and sexual assault.?

The Sun editorial also chided The Times for using such
incendiary phrases in its editorial as ?gruesome handiwork?
when alluding to the Florida Legislature?s passage of
concealed carry, and when it later called Florida lawmakers
?corrupt and cowardly? for refusing to ?undo these lethal
threats? by not repealing the carry law.

?There is nothing ?lethal? or ?gruesome? about permitting
law-abiding citizens to defend themselves by carrying a
weapon? or simply to carry a weapon without defending
themselves,? The Sun editorialized. ?The truth is that if
there is a lesson to be drawn from The Sun-Sentinel?s
reporting, it?s not, as The Times suggests, that there is
something wrong with existing laws. Rather it is that
judges should start treating criminals as the law
prescribes.

?In Florida,? The Sun editorial concluded, ?the law on
concealed carry allows persons who have committed serious
crimes and have reached plea agreements with judges to have
their records scrubbed, to become eligible once more to
receive a concealed carry license. An ordinary person
might expect an editorial writer opining on all this,
particularly in a city where the mayor is trying to make an
issue out of ?illegal? guns, to look into the statistics on
crime and include these facts in an editorial, if only to
deal with them. But at the Times, they’re not fit to print.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !