Hours after this morning's massacre in Orlando, Florida, the Associated Press is already brandishing the gun-control agenda.
In a report with a time stamp of 9:16 a.m. Eastern Time, the AP, with its list apparently always at the ready, gave the following headline to its rundown of "some of the nation's deadliest rampages since 2012": "Florida nightclub attack just the latest US mass shooting." In other words, Dear Reader, while we're busy minimizing the larger significance of the massacre, we want to make sure you understand that events such as these will continue to occur as long as guns are available.
Remarkably (no, not really), AP's coverage has been reluctant to fully communicate the nature of the Orlando massacre's attacker, calling Orlando Mateen, the 29 year-old who carried out the attack, a "shooter" in its headline at its 10:08 a.m. story:
Police: Approximately 20 killed in Florida club shooting
(Several reports indicate that the death toll is now 50 — Ed.)
A gunman wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a crowded Florida nightclub early Sunday before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. The attack left about 20 people dead and 42 others wounded.
Authorities were investigating it as an act of terrorism.
The suspect exchanged gunfire with an officer working at the gay club known as Pulse Orlando around 2 a.m., when more than 300 people were inside. The gunman then went back inside and took hostages, Police Chief John Mina said.
Around 5 a.m., authorities sent in a SWAT team to rescue the hostages. Police have not determined an exact number of casualties, but Mina said "approximately 20" bodies were inside the club.
In addition to the guns, the shooter also had some sort of "suspicious device," Mina said.
Authorities were looking into whether the attack was an act of domestic or international terror, and if the shooter acted alone, according to Danny Banks, an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
"This is an incident, as I see it, that we certainly classify as domestic terror incident," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.
FBI agent Ron Hopper said there was no further threat to Orlando or the surrounding area.
When asked if the gunman had a connection to radical Islamic terrorism, Hopper said authorities had "suggestions that individual has leanings towards that."
The three bolded items above are unequivocal in their reference to terrorism.
So why isn't there any indication of that in AP's headline? It's almost as if there's a Stylebook rule against getting any form of the T-word into a headline.
Ammoland made an important point this morning (link and bold are in original):
... Bars are one of a long list of places that Florida establishes as gun free zones. From Florida Statutes leg.state.fl.us:
... 12. Any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose;
Florida has the most concealed carry permits issued of any state in the nation, but it did the occupants of the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando no good because it is a gun free zone by state law.
Perhaps the AP will get around to telling readers what Ammoland told theirs. Sadly, I doubt it.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
