> Things that the news will never tell you
January 25, 2002 -- ANOTHER school shooting occurred last week and the
> >headlines were everywhere the same, from Australia to Nigeria. This time
> the
> >shooting occurred at a university, the Appalachian Law School. As usual,
> >there were calls for more gun control.
> >
> >Yet in this age of "gun-free school zones," one fact was missing from
> >virtually all the news coverage: The attack was stopped by two students
who
> >had guns in their cars.
> >
> >The fast responses of two male students, Mikael Gross, 34, and Tracy
> >Bridges, 25, undoubtedly saved multiple lives.
> >
> >Mikael was outside the law school and just returning from lunch when
Peter
> >Odighizuwa started his attack. Tracy was in a classroom waiting for class
> to
> >start.
> >
> >When the shots rang out, utter chaos erupted. Mikael said, "People were
> >running everywhere. They were jumping behind cars, running out in front
of
> >traffic, trying to get away."
> >
> >Mikael and Tracy did something quite different: Both immediately ran to
> >their cars and got their guns. Mikael had to run about 100 yards to get
to
> >his car. Along with Ted Besen (who was unarmed), they approached Peter
from
> >different sides.
> >
> >As Tracy explained it, "I aimed my gun at him, and Peter tossed his gun
> >down. Ted approached Peter, and Peter hit Ted in the jaw. Ted pushed him
> >back and we all jumped on."
> >
> >What is so remarkable is that out of 280 separate news stories (from a
> >computerized Nexis-Lexis search) in the week after the event, just four
> >stories mentioned that the students who stopped the attack had guns.
> >
> >Only two local newspapers (the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Charlotte
> >Observer) mentioned that the students actually pointed their guns at the
> >attacker.
> >
> >Much more typical was the scenario described by the Washington Post,
where
> >the heroes had simply "helped subdue" the killer. The New York Times
noted
> >only that the attacker was "tackled by fellow students."
> >
> >Most in the media who discussed how the attack was stopped said:
"students
> >overpowered a gunman," "students ended the rampage by tackling him," "the
> >gunman was tackled by four male students before being arrested," or
> >"Students ended the rampage by confronting and then tackling the gunman,
> who
> >dropped his weapon."
> >
> >In all, 72, stories described how the attacker was stopped without
> >mentioning that the student heroes had guns.
> >
> >Unfortunately, the coverage in this case was not unusual. In the other
> >public school shootings where citizens with guns have stopped attacks,
> >rarely do more than one percent of the news stories mention that citizens
> >with guns stopped the attacks.
> >
> >Many people find it hard to believe that research shows that there are 2
> >million defensive gun uses each year. After all, if these events were
> really
> >happening, wouldn't we hear about them on the news? But when was the last
> >time you saw a story on the national evening news (or even the local
news)
> >about a citizen using his gun to stop a crime?
> >
> >This misreporting actually endangers people's lives. By selectively
> >reporting the news and turning a defensive gun use story into one where
> >students merely "overpowered a gunman" the media gives misleading
> >impressions of what works when people are confronted by violence.
> >
> >Research consistently shows that having a gun is the safest way to
respond
> >to any type of criminal attack, especially these multiple victim
shootings.
> >
> >John Lott is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and
> the
> >author of "More Guns, Less Crime."
>
>
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