Hoplophobia In Action

A random shooting without apparent cause is always tragic. A shooting of a minister in a church in front of his congregation is sensationally tragic. There is plenty there to report on in a front-page story. Why then do we have this:

Tiny "Arsenal"

Did you get that? "He had an arsenal in his bedroom"!!!

What did the arsenal comprise? Stockpiles of military weapons? Barrels of ammunition? Dozens of assault rifles? Nope, the description is considerably more mundane.

He had two 12 gauge shotguns. That doesn't seem abnormal or excessive in a rural Illinois community. Ducks, geese, pheasant and similar game abound. Hunting in such locales is common.

He had a rifle and 550 rounds of 22 ammunition. Duh? I would assume the rifle was a .22 caliber as well. The ammo amounts to a "brick" and a box. That's a quantity a lot of plinkers and target shooters might expend on a Sunday afternoon outing to the range.

That's the "arsenal". Sensationalism anyone?

And, he came to the church with "enough ammunition to possible kill 30 people". Is that bandoleers of ammo draped over his shoulders? Nope. It's three ten-round magazines--recall that the ten-rounders were the limited mags imposed upon us for a decade by the Clinton gun-control administration. Hardly arsenal level there either.

Was he a gun nut? A shooting fanatic? I think that the report that his weapon jammed after firing four rounds might indicate not. Hard to know what would cause a Glock to jam, but an experienced shooter probably would have new, fresh ammunition; reliable quality magazines and be able to clear a malfunction efficiently and quickly without much pause.

Yet, the Associated Press shamelessly weaves their hoplophobia through the story and we the uncaring public get more seeds sown for our future disarmament. An "arsenal" indeed.