WA:Gun Store Fights Back Against Smear

A recent King 5 News broadcast reported on gun violence around the Puget Sound.

The fact that the reporters referenced Champion Arms and the Kent gun store’s licensing issues is a case history in how the news media often portray gun issues in a false light.

Champion Arms had almost nothing to do with the stated subject matter of the story, which was how people like the Cafe Racer killer, Ian Stawiki, obtain guns.

Stawiki, who killed four people in Seattle and wounded another, did not have a criminal record nor any record of mental illness. It is hard to understand exactly why he was even mentioned in the story unless the goal was to associate gun stores with violence.

KING 5 News alleged that Champion’s gun store would “close down in a matter of days,” but Champion’s administrative problems with paperwork were not in any way related to selling guns to criminals or other inappropriate persons.

Nevertheless, any viewer exposed to the broadcast would get the idea that 58 guns reportedly lost in 2009 had something to do with criminals getting their firearms from Champion Arms.

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