PA Bill Number: HB2235
Title: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ...
Description: Providing for regulation of the meat packing and food processing industry by creating facility health and safety committees in the workplace; ... ...
Last Action: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Last Action Date: Apr 25, 2024
Professors aim to educate journalists on gun history, terminology :: 08/29/2016
Two college professors recently gave journalists from around the state a crash course in gun history, terminology and use at a firing range.
The state’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter organized the seminar to better educate reporters on a controversial and technically complex topic.
In the course of reporting on gun issues and recent control measures, journalists have been criticized for making errors regarding the operation of guns, confusing automatic with semiautomatic firearms and using incorrect terminology. Mike Savino, a reporter with the Record-Journal and society board president, said he hoped to offer journalists a chance to learn about guns in a politically-neutral environment.
“Our reporting on both of those aspects can affect people’s views on firearms,” Savino said. “We felt this was an area where journalists need better information.”
Mark Timney and Chad Nye, both associate professors of journalism at Keene State College in New Hampshire, traveled to Greyson Guns in Orange to speak with about a dozen journalists from newspapers and colleges throughout the state. Both professors are self-admitted “gun guys” as well as former broadcast and magazine journalists, but said their goal is to be objective.
“We’re not gun advocates in any way,” Timney said.
Credibility is vital for journalists and terminology or identification errors in a story hurts that credibility, they said. Knowing at least the basics about how different guns work helps make stories stronger and avoids alienating readers.
“If you use a wrong term, especially with gun people, you’ve just lost them,” Timney said.
Nye and Timney brought examples of bolt action, break action and semi-automatic guns along with projectiles of varying caliber or gauge. Journalists finished the morning by firing a few rounds through a semi-automatic pistol, a pump-action shotgun and a semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle.
Ron Pinciaro, executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said he had no issues with education on guns but said a focus on terminology and function can be used to distract from more important issues.
“It’s an obfuscation,” Pinciaro said. “There is not a huge difference between a semiautomatic and automatic weapon in terms of firepower and lethality.”
Semi-automatic weapons fire one round for each pull of the trigger and are commonly owned by civilians. Automatic weapons fire continuously as long as the trigger is pulled. They are also highly-regulated and very rarely in civilian hands, according to Timney.
Pinciaro said there are around 300 million guns in the country and more being bought every day.
“We’re not trying to take guns away from people but that’s too many guns,” Pinciaro said.
Timney said furthering a viewpoint isn’t his goal. Neither he nor Nye are members of any gun advocacy group.
“I’m primarily concerned that we make firearms laws that are justified logically,” Timney said. “(Otherwise) you’re wasting time, you’re confusing the issue and you’re maybe passing laws that won’t save lives and maybe infringe on constitutional rights.”
Jodi Gil, treasurer of SPJ’s state chapter and associate professor of journalism at Southern Connecticut State University, said she can see the sportsmanship and appreciates the skill required for the firearms, but wouldn’t take it up for fun.
“I think the biggest takeaway is you have to know as a reporter that you can’t count on your source to be an expert,” Gil said. “It helps if you understand, and it’s on you as a reporter to do the research and make sure you understand what the source says and can question them intelligently.”
