Why would the Media distort the news about the Omaha gunman?

Question

It appears that we have positive identification of the rifle used in the Omaha Mall shooting. The pictures from Fox 42: Omaha show an ordinary SKS rifle with a fixed 10 round magazine. The same rifle that millions of people in the United States own for hunting and plinking. It is an acceptable deer rifle for most of the country.

There have been many reports of "assault rifle" used in the MSM, and reports of 30 round magazines. It appears that all of these reports are false, probably intended to stir up anti-gun sentiment before the election.

What say you?

For Kelvinis below:

Bingo, you hit the nail on the head.

For Bearkat below:

Obviously Warren doesn't know what kind of rifle it is. First he says it's an SKS, then he says it's an AK-47 style rifle. Well you can take an SKS and make it look like an AK-47, simply by changing some of the parts.

For Bearcat below:
OMAHA, Neb. - ABC News has confirmed with two sources that the gun used at Westroads Mall was SKS-style rifle with two magazines taped together found at the scene. ABC reported that taping magazines together is a technique that allows the shooter to reload more quickly. That may be why witnesses heard so many shots when Robert A. Hawkins, 20, opened fire on Wednesday afternoon.

Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren confirmed the rifle style, but would not confirm the magazine detail.

For Bearcat below?

My point exactly about the Media Bias.

I would say that they family of the shooter would know what type of rifle the kid used, since they have already confirmed that it was an SKS rifle.

Answer 1

everyone should do research on the Columbine shooting- literaly hundreds of suppressed reports and eyewitness accounts of adult shooters everywhere - automatic fire heard long after the Klebold or Harris were alleged to have killed themselves etc.
many of these alleged 'random shootings' have 'inside job ' Mk ultra - Manchurian candidate programmed killers written all over them.

the second amendment is a huge barrier to total takeover - just as it was meant to be. They want to destroy it.

Answer 2

"(Omaha Police Chief Thomas) Warren said the rifle used was an AK-47. Police haven't finished tracing the gun, but believe Hawkins stole it from his stepfather's home."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/06/mall.shooting/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

The thing about trying to be on the cutting edge on a story is that sometimes you're wrong.

Why did the police tell the media the weapon was an AK47 if that was wrong? Why jump early on such a key fact of the case if they weren't 90% sure?

Does the weapon in this photo look like a hunting rifle to you?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/07/mall.shooter/index.html?iref=newssearch

This is what Right Wingers do. Make up nonsense about the media, and then turn around and believe chain emails (the most reliable form of news) instead.

Again, Bubba, in the age of 24 hour news cycles, they were trying to be first to get the word out, and sometimes the early reports from the scene are not on the money, because the investigators have early information and they always say "the investigation is ongoing."

"Obviously Warren doesn't know what kind of rifle it is. First he says it's an SKS, then he says it's an AK-47 style rifle. Well you can take an SKS and make it look like an AK-47, simply by changing some of the parts..."
So we're going on early information when Warren doesn't have all the information yet, and they make it clear that the investigation is ongoing. That's my point.

"Witnesses said the gunman sprayed fired down on shoppers from a third-floor balcony of the Von Maur store using what police said was an SKS assault rifle they found at the scene."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3959477

I'm sorry, but these do not sound like the type of weapons that you go out hunting rabbits with. But the "media" is twisting it, right?

These people are working 24-7 to get the latest tidbit on the weapon used in the attack, witnesses, what made this kid tick, the specifics on what happened, and in the 24 hour newscycle we live in, there is tremendous pressure to get the information out.

Remember the Sago Mine Tragedy? The media reported early that all the miners were found alive. Was it the media's fault that that was wrong? The word got the the miners' families before the information could be confirmed, the media got word of it, and what do you do when that
type of information comes out? It's the media's responsibility to report it. The media just reports what it is told.

Where are the links to the stories about his family describing the weapon? How do you know that bit of information?

You sound certain that this was an ordinary hunting rifle, but all the reports I'm hearing at the very least suggest that the rifle was modified to be semi-automatic, to fire faster and do more damage.

So, did the entire media huddle at one time, and one person in the middle say, "Hey, let's call it an 'AK 47' or 'assault rifle' to make everybody mad at gun owners across America,"? How did that meeting work?

Sounds like you're floating in the direction toward the "Bush did 9/11" conspiracy crowd. If the media can conspire on what kind of weapon it was, what can't the media do?

Oh, by the way, apparently, Fox news hasn't gotten the memo from the NRA yet.

"Police did not release video from the third floor where Hawkins fired the gun. But a still image taken from the videotape shows Hawkins with his sleeves rolled up, aiming his AK-47."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316164,00.html

Answer 3

It is not "liberal media" distorting the issue. It is the laws. Some of laws define any long gun that holds 10 rounds as an assault weapon. I don't agree with it,but I have lived places where my guns were illegal. There are many guns besides the SKS that fall in that definition. So the "liberal media" is just using that definition. Simple lesson,don't go on shooting sprees or let them know you own them.

added. I don't know which photo you are referring to,but there are SKSs that can use the AK clip,making it faster to reload. Also the lib media thing was not directed at you.

Answer 4

I have to agree with you. I heard it called an AK47. My first thought was, where did this kid get an AK47. The media should not give so much attention to these people who go berserk because it just leads some mentally ill people to do this as a memorial to their suicide. Just report the facts and leave it alone. The current methods of reporting these incidents only encourages more of the same.

Answer 5

I was under the impression it was an SKS with the box magazine removed and modified to accept AK-47 magazines.

Answer 6

I really like my SKS.....but you're right, it's no assault rifle. I think the reporting is 50% anti-gun, and 50% ignorance.
Most of those reporters know nothing about guns.
It is sort of like every dog attack is a Pitbull.......I really love my Pitbull.

Edit....btw, you can easily remove the fixed magazine and use 30 round magazines, I've seen it done. Mine is totally stock.

Answer 7

I say YES!!!! Great Point, Bubba.

The tragedy gives the Liberal Anti-Gun Nazis in the Media a soapbox for going after firearms.

The Liberals News Media loves it whenever there is a firearm killing.
It gives them a chance to help the Democrats ban guns from law-abiding citizens.

Answer 8

I do not know much about guns and probably those media people do not either. They really don't care about the truth. it is all about getting it out there first. It could have been planned although. I really distrust the media for they always have a spin of words.
Ex.- Man killed suspects while on phone with 911.
They were not suspects, they were robbers coming out a window with a bag of goods, the man was not on the phone w/911, he was outside and the illegal robbers were coming towards him onto his property.
Headline should have read- Two illegal robbers with a drug past were shot!

Answer 9

Because as you say, the media will distort the facts to fit their individual agendas. We see it time and time again.

Or, perhaps, it's because they don't have anyone on staff who knows the difference between a hunting rifle and a AK. lol

Answer 10

Another Shooter With A History Of Anti-depressant Use
Killer is latest in long line of young men with history of psychiatric drugs treatment for depression and ADHD.

Infowars.net | December 7 , 2007
Steve Watson

Robert Hawkins, the 19 year old who killed himself and eight other people with an assault rifle last night in Omaha, Nebraska had a history of treatment with psychiatric drugs for depression and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and was on prozac according to press reports .

Of course the headlines will once again focus on how evil and dangerous guns are, how the second amendment should be reevaluated and will once again ignore the fact that this young man was subject to dangerous brain altering chemicals for a number of years prior to this tragic incident.

Hawkins is the latest in a long line of shooters all of which were on prescribed antidepressants before they suddenly snapped and decided to kill as many people as they could before taking their own lives.

Investigators believe that Cho Seung Hui, the Virginia Tech murderer, had been taking anti-depressant medication at some point before the shootings last April, according to The Chicago Tribune .

Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, as well as 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, the Oregon killer who gunned down his parents and classmates, were all on psychotropic drugs.

Jeff Weise, the Red Lake High School killer was on prozac , "Unabomber" Ted Kaczinski, Michael McDermott, John Hinckley, Jr., Byran Uyesugi, Mark David Chapman and Charles Carl Roberts IV, the Amish school killer, were all on SSRI psychotropic drugs.

Antidepressant drugs have never been tested on children nor approved by the FDA for use on children, however, Scientific studies proving that prozac encourages suicidal tendencies in young people are voluminous and span back nearly a decade.

In 2005, it was revealed that Eli Lilly had full knowledge of a 1200% increase in suicide risk for takers of their Prozac. This evidence came in the wake of findings published in the British Medical Journal a year previously.

In 2006 a report was published outlining the fact that anti-depressant drug Paxil doubles the risk of violent behavior . Another study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry revealed that teens taking antidepressant drugs are more likely to commit suicide.

However, prescriptions of antidepressants and other mind-altering drugs among schoolchildren has more than quadrupled in that time, while use of behaviour-altering drugs, including Ritalin, for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Modafinil, for daytime sleepiness, has soared ten-fold.

It is a well known fact among the makers of these drugs that they are directly linked to behavioural disturbances including agitation, panic attacks and extreme aggression, yet their use is so commonplace that they have now even found their way into our drinking water .

Since these deadly drugs are prevalent in almost all mass shooting incidents, where is the call to ban prozac? Where is the investigation into these drugs and the big pharma corporations that are pushing them and gaining record profits? Why is the knee-jerk reaction always to attack the 2nd Amendment rights of Americans to self-defense, a right that was exercised in January 2002 when students subdued a shooter at another Virginia university before he could kill more than three people because they were allowed guns on campus?