Why Do Reporters Always Emphasize That A Gun Was "LOADED"?

[The Night Rider]

I just watched a news report about some idiot who shot a kid playing hide and seek in his yard.

The reporter emphasized that the homeowner retrieved a LOADED gun from his home and shot the kid.

I mean, isn't it a given that it's a homeowner shot the kid the gun was loaded?

 

[Roverguy]

While the left is opposed to non M&P owning guns, they have, in the past, been willing to concede civilian ownership of a limited range of firearms, provide they are locked and unloaded - effectively incapable of being used in a situation requiring rapid access. So, the translation from leftspeak is “an unlocked loaded firearm intended for rapid lethality”. Thus, inherently more evil.

 

[.38 Special]

It still is far better than "armed gunman".

Of course, that seems to have been largely replaced by "active shooter", which is something I hope to be for at least another few years.

 

[Ed4032]

Because unloaded guns kill people.
RULE I: Treat ALL GUNS as if they ARE ALWAYS LOADED

 

[Jim Watson]

We often get a report that a gun held by a suspicious character is FULLY loaded, as if good people do not fill them up.

 

[CDW4ME]

If it is a reporter, the gun was allegedly loaded. Kid was allegedly shot. They allegedly wrote the story.

 

[Stevel]

While the left is opposed to non M&P owning guns, they have, in the past, been willing to concede civilian ownership of a limited range of firearms, provide they are locked and unloaded - effectively incapable of being used in a situation requiring rapid access. So, the translation from leftspeak is “an unlocked loaded firearm intended for rapid lethality”. Thus, inherently more evil.

Yeah, maybe we should start insisting people empty their gas tanks in the driveway so they can't drive drunk too.....

 

[shoobe01]

Because the police tell them so. This level of reporting is just documenting what they were told, and the police record stuff that matters to them. In many locales, transporting unloaded vs carrying loaded are legally very different things, for example.

Most things that I see a reporter get called out on for being gun-dumb are the police being unaware or writing bad reports; even if the reporter knows enough to raise an eyebrow, he has no way to verify so can't just make up different terms easily as that's what they were told by the authorities, will often be weeks or never before they can get details and by then no one usually cares.

 

[dweis]

“LOADED” was used for the same reason “retrieved” was. Poor command of the American English language coupled with a lack of logic. The reported did not know that retrieved means “to get back.” The shooter did not get his gun back. He simply “got” his gun. Anyone who says a shooting happened lith a loaded gun fails to use reason because, as we all know, you cannot get shot with an unloaded gun. Or the reporter is so stupid that he actually saw some possibility of being shot with an unloaded gun., in whicj]h case he ought to have a psych exam.

 

[jdsingleshot]

shoobe01 is correct. I worked as a copy editor in newsrooms for 21 years. The reporters knew almost nothing about almost everything they reported. They are only trained to vomit information they have been fed.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

My version of Rule 1 is "Treat all firearms with the respect due a lethal weapon (especially the 'unloaded' ones)."

When I saw RAISING ARIZONA, Nicolas Cage's character was cut some slack by the parole board because he had used an unloaded gun. I wondered about that, asked a few questions, and it seems use of a unloaded firearm might serve as a mitigating factor in sentencing as well as later parole. Use of loaded versus unloaded firearms has importance in police reporting and criminal adjudication and is part of the boilerplate checkoff list of factors to be reported.

 

[usaral63]

Makes it sound more ominous !

 

[CapnMac]

Our media, especially the legacy media, uses words, but has little care about the meanings of those words (other than when they are paid by the word).

Their concern is only that t "sounds" like what the narrative requires.

Like as not, what they really wanted to say was that the firearms was "illegally" loaded. But, that could be seen as defamation and/or libel, and the medi does care about lawsuits.

 

[rabid wombat]

Our media, especially the legacy media, uses words, but has little care about the meanings of those words (other than when they are paid by the word).

Also, remember - the media is not present to ‘inform’, they are present to sell advertising time…revenue, revenue, revenue…

 

[tws3b2]

A reporters job is to sell. Hate, Greed, Envy and Drama are what people love. Give people that and they will come back for more. Watch the " news" on tv. Back some years ago " reporters" were Not allowed to show emotion. Read from a script, Facts. They were not allowed to add to or subtract from the script, Facts, Especially Emotion. After the news would come the Editorial. The reporters/stations views. They were Not part of the news. Separate. Just the thoughts of the reporter/station. No more No less. No better than yours.
Today it is hard to tell where news and the editorial begin and end. Mix them up to where the viewer can't tell the difference. Preach Hate, Greed, Envy. Throw in a large dose of drama and you got yourself a pot load of Hateful, Greedy, Envious people that will return for more. = advertisers $$$$ .

 

[Riomouse911]

It’s a business. They need ad revenue to survive. Create controversy and stoke emotions, hopefully someone will start some unrest so they can send out “team coverage” and create more viewers/readers.

Always paint anything gun related as scary or dangerous to drum up interest to inflate numbers.

That’s Business of Journalism 101.

Stay safe.

 

[JKP]

It's kind of like reporting a "dead body". When a body is found, I think it's always dead.

 

[toivo]

Because "loaded gun" sounds scarier than "gun."

Speaking of redundancy, why is it called a "hot water heater"? Wouldn't "water heater" tell the whole story?

 

[.308 Norma]

Because "loaded gun" sounds scarier than "gun."

Speaking of redundancy, why is it called a "hot water heater"? Wouldn't "water heater" tell the whole story?

There's probably a lot to that. I mean, we're gun people here on THR, and to us, it's a "given" that the gun was loaded - as Night Rider said in his original post.
Well, I think it's probable the same principal applies in your example, "hot water heater." I'm long time retired now, but I made my living as an electrician. And in my working years, I installed (and replaced) a heck of a lot of electric water heaters. I never did call them, "hot water heaters."

 

[DustyGmt]

I don't know why but I'm reminded of the episode of MONK where Adrian hears an intruder breaking glass to get entry and he runs to the bedroom and tries to enter the combination to his handgun box and can't get into it in time and points the box at the intruder and says "I have a gun in here, trust me, I definitely have a gun in here and I know how to use it, don't make me open it"

All these safe storage people don't understand that basically without exception:

A. Your gun needs to be LOADED
B. Your gun needs to be readily accessible (to you)

 

[Space Ghost]

Simple... sounds evil, therefore fits in with their narrative.

Same reason white people are racists, and a psycho gone nuts on the subway is a "Michael Jackson impersonator, experiencing homelessness".

 

[herrwalther]

Sounds scarier.

 

[Necessary_Nutrient]

I don't know why but I'm reminded of the episode of MONK where Adrian hears an intruder breaking glass to get entry and he runs to the bedroom and tries to enter the combination to his handgun box and can't get into it in time and points the box at the intruder and says "I have a gun in here, trust me, I definitely have a gun in here and I know how to use it, don't make me open it"

All these safe storage people don't understand that basically without exception:

A. Your gun needs to be LOADED
B. Your gun needs to be readily accessible (to you)

I think they get that but are concerned about shootings by a family member other than the owner/primary user. For such a family shooting to happen, this must be true:

• The gun must be loaded
• It must be accessible to someone in the family who should not have access.

Lots of overlap there

 

[230RN]

Five AM ramble...

Every gun is always loaded sums it up.

Semantics.... the Left has far more expertise in that, and has easier to load "ammunition."

The "hot water heater" objection always bothered me because I take it with a different semantic loading: It's a heater for the hot water side of the plumbing.

Some people take it as a redundancy, others as a more full explanation of its function. Depends on how you load the conceptual relationship.

Semantics. "They're" better at it than we are and have more ammunition.

We know there are thousands of cases where the mere presence of a firearm without a shot being fired has prevented violence.

But that doesn't make news.

Five AM. Coffee. Ahhhhhh....

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Often, it is because that is from the information the police provide to them.