Eric Thompson, the owner of TopGlock.com who we have had on the podcast before was the subject of what amounts to a smear article by ABC News. Eric is someone who is dedicated to preserving our right to keep and bear arms, and due to his unfortunate connection to the VA Tech shooting has really taken the cause of students who wish to be able to defend themselves to heart. With that in mind, he’s running a promotion offer to sell firearms at a discounted rate to college students – I think that’s an excellent gesture and a show of his sincerity and dedication.
ABC News on the other hand thinks it’s a horrible thing, and starts the article right off by referring to him as the “Virginia Tech Gun Dealer”. I guess they figure if they can establish a bias in the minds of their readers with the title of the article, it will make it smearing his character that much easier. Of course, the very next thing they do is make sure that if there was any doubt, the hammer home the unfortunate link between the VA Tech shooter and Eric. Sadly, it only gets worse from there, as ABC News decided to give Petey Hamm from the Brady Campaign and Josh Sugarmann from VPC an inordinate amount of inkspace to really smear Eric. First up, Petey says the following:
“He’s arming the criminals and then telling the rest of us to buy guns so we can protect ourselves from the criminals he’s armed,” said Peter Hamm, communications director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Really, Petey? He’s arming criminals? Got any proof for that baseless accusation, or are you just flinging poo at the character of an honest businessman who has broken no laws? If Eric really was selling guns to criminals, that’s something that should be reported to the ATF, which I’m sure you would have done if you had any proof. Instead, you’re just making wild accusations in the public media about an honest businessman. This just reinforces my new, unofficial motto for the Brady Campaign: Snatching crassness from the jaws of decency.
Of course, not to be outdone, Josh Sugarmann has to get his two cents in:
“What this shows is that to the gun industry, gun violence is at best an abstract concept and at worst a business opportunity,” said Josh Sugarmann, the Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center.
“No matter how these products are used against citizens, the answer is always more guns when in fact these problems stem from the fact that there are too many guns out there already,” Sugarmann told ABCNews.com.
Yes, Josh, it’s a business opportunity. Which is why Eric’s selling the guns at cost and not making any profit of them. You know, with business acumen like yours, it’s no wonder that VPC is hemorrhaging funds. But that’s okay, because you got your rhetoric in place about how all the guns “on the streets” are the problem; nevermind that the goal is to allow people who have already gone through the rigorous background check necessary to get a CCW to be able to defend themselves where they go to school.
You know, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. ABC News lately has demonstrated absolutely zero interest in running factual news stories, and just seems interested in pumping more biased hoplophobic hyperbole into the newsfeed, and hope that by repeating the anti-gun mantra even louder and trashing the good name of a good guy that they can get some traction for their agenda.
