Dave Workman of [url]www.gunweek.com[/url] is the author of this article.
Subject: [Gun_Talk] Caught In Collusion? Seattle TV ‘Gun Show Expose’ Exposed
Caught In Collusion? Seattle TV ‘Gun Show Expose’ Exposed
By Dave Workman
Senior EditorGun Week NewsDecember 12, 2002
An undercover story by a Seattle, WA television news team that purported
to expose a so-called “gun show loophole” by showing film of the legal
private purchase of an AR-15 rifle at a gun show set off a firestorm
after Gun Week uncovered a direct link between the gun buyer and a major
gun control organization.
Western Washington gun activists now argue that the investigative news
team, led by a reporter whose earlier work at a television station in
Oklahoma City resulted in a $6.5 million defamation judgment, colluded
with an operative of Washington CeaseFire to produce the report.
Less than 24 hours after the report aired on KIRO-TV’s evening news
broadcast, a Gun Week investigation revealed that the individual who had
agreed to purchase the rifle while being filmed with a hidden camera is
the brother of an official at CeaseFire, the state’s largest anti-gun
group. KIRO is the CBS affiliate in Seattle.
The buyer, Justin Martin, was identified by a CeaseFire staffer as the
brother of DeAnna Martin, who served as interim executive director of
the group this past summer. On camera, Martin claimed to be a gun owner
and avid shooter. His connection to CeaseFire was never mentioned.
It was not explained whether KIRO actually did the covert filming, or
whether Justin and a companion provided the film.
Martin was also the subject of a similar story that appeared on
Seattle’s KING the local NBC affiliate about two weeks prior to the
KIRO “expose.” In that piece, his connection to CeaseFire was also not
revealed, but KING reporter Deborah Feldman confirmed to Gun Week that
she knows his connection to CeaseFire. She said she contacted him, with
“some assistance,” and that he did not initiate the KING story.
But at least one local talk show host, John Carlson at KVI, suggested on
the air that CeaseFire may have been “shopping this story around” to
local news organizations.
The KIRO piece aired Monday, Nov. 18. An undercover cameraman attended
the gun show with Martin, held at the Southwest Washington fairgrounds
in Centralia, Lewis County. Martin purchased the rifle without having to
go through a background check. It was a legal, private sale, as
acknowledged by award-winning KIRO investigative reporter Chris Halsne.
KIRO had promoted the broadcast for several days prior to airing the
report, even noting on its website how the station’s “hidden cameras
expose how easy it is to buy a sniper's assault rifle at local gun
shows. No waiting, no background checks. A Team 7 Investigation that
reveals the gun control loophole that puts you at risk.”
However, Lewis County Sheriff John McCroskey told Gun Week that when he
was invited to view a tape of the undercover purchase, he did not react
the way that a KIRO reporter apparently expected.
“I pointed out to them that it’s a gun show, and the sale was legal,”
McCroskey said. “>From their promo (for the story), it is clear they had
an agenda.”
Halsne denied there was any agenda, other than to illustrate “what
current laws allow.” He said he did not personally do the McCroskey
interview.
“It is a big national debate,” Halsne said. “We simply went to show…the
simplicity of purchasing this AR-15.”
But Halsne’s remarks during the televised report suggest otherwise to
angry gun owners. After alluding to “bodies and blood-filled morgues
from Washington, DC to Tacoma, Washington,” Halsne asserted, “Felons,
guys angry at their wives, mental patients all are welcome here at the
Chehalis gun show.”
Leading into the Halsne report, a KIRO news anchor stated, “We show you
how easy it is to skirt the law and walk away with a loaded gun.”
Later, Halsne stated, “KIRO Team 7 investigators discovered anyone can
legally buy an AR-15 semi-automatic.”
Gun rights activists, including Joe Waldron, executive director of the
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and a director
on the Washington Arms Collectors board, are furious. He said gun shows
do not “welcome” felons or mental patients, noting instead that such
people are barred from gun shows.
Waldron also said “nobody walks out of a gun show with a loaded gun.”
Loaded firearms are strictly forbidden at gun shows. He said there are
several categories of disqualified persons who may not legally buy or
possess any kind of gun.
Several gun owners promised to file formal complaints with KIRO. Some
indicated they would also be contacting the Washington News Council, an
independent media fairness group founded about four years ago to promote
accuracy and balance in regional news. This mediation group operates a
website at: www.wanewscouncil.org.
Waldron suggested that Martin’s appearance on two Seattle newscasts with
essentially the same story may be a CeaseFire strategy to create public
hysteria about gun shows just six weeks before the new Legislature
convenes. Anti-gun show legislation has been a priority with CeaseFire
for the past three years, and Waldron sees no coincidence that the
reports aired, with the same individual. He called the KIRO story
“sensational yellow journalism.”
Halsne’s reporting has been challenged before.