Media applauds Biden’s call for gun control while ignoring current gun control issues across the country
February 16, 2021
This week media outlets applauded Biden’s recent call for gun control while he disavowed gun violence that took place in Parkland.
Terms like “common sense” and getting “tougher” on gun violence was the common theme in the coverage of this announcement. Outlets reported on Biden’s promise to “end our epidemic of gun violence and make our communities safer”.
Contrast this with the media coverage of the rising gun violence across the country stemming from current policies that have resulted in unintended and violent consequences.
Just this past week, the city of Minneapolis quietly voted to refund its law enforcement due to the “rise in gun violence.” Reports recently revealed the city of Seattle saw the highest homicide number in 26 years. New York is seeing shootings “surge to levels not seen in years”. Homicides jumped 39% in Chicago in 2020 and Los Angeles has seen double-digit rises in homicides. San Francisco just added six more shootings over this past weekend to add to the already increasing gun violence in the city. NPR acknowledged 2020 as “a record-breaking year for gun-related deaths in the U.S.”
People blame the growing violence nationwide on a range of issues from “defunding the police” to “frustrations with pandemic shutdowns”, to COVID-related early release policies. None of these issues will be addressed by gun control policies, yet they have not received the cohesive media coverage the Biden administration enjoyed with this past weekend’s gun control statement.
While the media covers the airwaves with statements like, “we owe it to all those we’ve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change”, while ignoring the very real gun control issues plaguing our country.