CBS vs. Barrett

CBS (who never makes up anything) aired a report on 60 Minutes this past Sunday titled, “The Big Gun.” This report examined the impending DOOM that will fall upon us because of the .50 caliber Barret M82A1 rifle.

For those of you that don’t know. The M82A1 is a very large weapon.

It fires bullets like the big one on the bottom. The tiny one? That tiny 30-30 round is STILL bigger than the caliber used by the D.C. sniper. It doesn’t take a big bullet to kill people.:

Most of the 60 Minutes report showed interviews with Ronnie Barrett, inventor of the Barrett rifles, and Tom Diaz. Tom Diaz’s tagline was “Gun Control Advocate.” Anyone that defines their existence using the word “advocate” needs to go get a job. I hear McDonald’s is always hiring.

The 60 Minutes report was the usual anti-gun diatribe. In fact, it pretty much followed my Gun Control Mad-libs.

The [Popular Gun] is the most [Adjective] weapon ever created! It is a travesty that such a [Synonym of hellspawn] could be available to [Choose two: terrorists, civilians, mailmen, hunters, kids that play video games, Charlton Heston]. Congress needs to pass a law RIGHT NOW to help [Verb] citizens and thwart the [Adjective] NRA once and for all!

I can handle another news report about how evil guns are. Besides a few California law-makers, the rest of the country pretty much accepts the moral stand that the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms. That means “own guns” for those of you in Rio Linda.

It drives me absolutely nuts when an Advocate like Mr. Diaz starts vomiting out made-up facts like a bulimic. For instance, a popular myth perpetuated by Diaz’s Violence Policy Center is that, to quote the 60 Minutes writeup:

It would be a weapon that could do a lot of damage ? no question about that.

This is exactly what the FBI learned in 1993 at Waco when Branch Davidians fired a Barrett .50-caliber sniper rifle at them.

In response, the FBI deployed Bradley fighting vehicles for protection. But even that wasn?t sufficient, and heavier armor was brought in.

No, no, NO!

Here is a statement directly from Diaz’s website, vpc.org:

David Koresh and his fellow Branch Davidians had several 50 caliber sniper rifles among the weapons in their substantial arsenal. During the 1993 siege at the Waco, Texas compound, FBI agents used armored vehicles to protect against the weapons. This decision was made after four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were killed in the initial assault.

Let’s go through this one item at a time.

David Koresh and his fellow Branch Davidians had several 50 caliber sniper rifles

According to federal testimony, they had TWO. Now would also be a good time to note that owning a .50 Barrett rifle is LEGAL in 49 states. (Thanks, Ahnold for infinging the rights of Californians.)

During the 1993 siege at the Waco, Texas compound, FBI agents used armored vehicles to protect against the weapons.

The Barrett rifles were NOT fired during the siege. There is no evidence to support this claim. There is, however, significant evidence to support the allegations that the FBI fired .50 Barretts INTO the Branch Davidian compound.

FBI agents used armored vehicles to protect against the weapons. This decision was made after four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were killed in the initial assault.

This is great. What we have here is a typical trick used by journalists. This statement implies that the FBI decided to use armored vehicles because of the threat posed by the Barrett rifles. This is not true. It is true that they rolled in armor after 4 agents died, but those agents were NOT shot by Barrett rifles. There is no evidence to support this except for a single report from the GAO claiming that an FBI agent testified that they were fired on by .50 Barrett rifles. Unfortuantely, none of the OFFICIAL Waco documents concerning the incident indicate any such thing.

I just get so sick of this garbage. This tripe on CBS is nothing but fear-mongering.

Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/06/60minutes/main665257.shtml
http://www.wmsa.net/news/CNSNews/cns-030609_barrett_boycott.htm
http://archive.gao.gov/f0502/162586.pdf
http://www.ravnwood.com/archives/004077.shtml
http://www.waco93.com/faq.htm