Gun Culture

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Matt Frei Lies

I notice that most of my blog buddies are wisely avoiding the topic of the Virginia Tech shooting until the facts come out, if this ever happens.  Very wise.
One place where facts just don’t matter is the BBC.
Last nights 10 O’clock News included commentary from Matt Frei, now I’ve never liked this smug looking tosser and it’s been quite clear where his bias lies - he makes no attempt whatsoever to make a balanced commentary.  Now actually being biased is not a problem to me, so long as I’m not paying for it and so long as you ain’t supposed to be neutral.  A BBC reporter is paid by me via the licence fee and as a state broadcaster has an obligation to be neutral (ho ho ho!) and portray the facts not opinion.
In last nights piece Frei told Hugh (and therefore us) that George Bush had allowed the Assault Weapon Ban, which was a ban on automatic weapons, to expire.  We know that the so-called assualt weapons ban had NOTHING to do with automatic weapons, it was a restriction on semi-automatic weapons with two or more cosmetic features such as pistol grip and flash hider.  Once more with feeling - NOTHING TO DO WITH AUTOMATIC WEAPONS!
As for blaming GWB for the ban’s expiration, this is not W’s fault.  The ban had an inbuilt sunset clause because the ban was controverstial even at the time it was authored under a Clinton administration.  The ban was not renewed because it did not have the required support in the house.  Simple as.  If the ban had got to the President’s desk and he had declined to sign it, then Frei’s comments would have some basis.  As it happens W took some flak for saying that he would sign the renewal if it got to his desk, I believe this unjustified as W knew full well that the renewal wasn’t going to get there.
Now these misleading statements (lies?) would be just about understandable if Frei was a domestic reporter, but he’s been the US correspondent since 2002.  As US correspondent he has a responsibility to report accurately on these issues. 
This leads me to two possible conclusions:
Frei is deliberately lying.  I wouldn’t put this past the slimey get.
Frei is wilfully ignorant of the facts and therefore incompetent.

Either way Frei has proved himself to be unreliable and should be sacked forthwith.