I just got done watching 'Under the Gun' on Epix with their free preview weekend. It was advertised as being a balanced look at the gun debate. Did anyone else watch it? It discusses a lot of mass shootings and presents a lot of sad stories, but does nothing in my mind to address many of the real issues, some of which relate to CCW. I just need to vent a bit. Full disclaimer: I was unable to see the last 15 minutes of the 2 hour program (no commercials). Below I've summarized some of the themes and issues raised in the show. Sorry it's a bit rambling--feel free to skip to the TL:DR.The NRA is painted throughout as being an awful boogeyman with too much power that controls people and the government through fear.It negatively showcases many examples of people open carrying weapons but doesn't show that any violence has resulted from this behavior.Concealed carriers are shown, but then includes a quote from a family member of someone in the Aurora, CO theater shooting that using the CCW wouldn't have helped and in fact would have made things worse. This was immediately after citing the famous NRA quote that the "only way to stop bad guy with gun is a good guy with gun". It then cites the number of mass shootings and deaths and states that not one of them has been stopped by a good guy with a gun. The show fails to mention that nearly all mass shootings are where good guys weren't allowed to have guns and doesn't mention that good guys stop a lot of bad guys with guns all the time. Instead the show immediately follows up with the story of a CCW'er after Senator Gabrielle Gifford was shot on how he almost shot the wrong person.The show seems to paint gun owners as foul-mouthed, angry, and rude, in particular when telling the story of a group against carrying guns into grocery stores.The big premise of the show seems to be a push for background checks, to close the gun show and private sale loophole. It shows a lot of statistics of gun deaths but doesn't discuss how much gun violence resulted from the loophole. The show describes how the ATF can't computerize their records and that 30% of gun trace requests fail, but doesn't show that the trace requests fail because of the lack of computerization. It describes the large number of unsolved gun death cases but does not show these unsolved cases are related to failed trace requests or the ATF lack of computerization. It shows sad stories of families hurt by gun violence, but doesn't show that any specific regulations, background checks or anything would have made a difference.Early in the show, they throw out the total number of gun deaths, but doesn't acknowledge that 2/3 of those are suicides until nearly the end of the show. When it does though, this is the graph they use: http://ift.tt/1sqDx1P Not only do they still show 33,000 on the one side with 21,000 suicides on the other, which is misleading, but the pie chart didn't look accurate. Suicides are 64%. I made a pie chart for 64% and 36% and overlaid it on their chart: http://ift.tt/1ZVBjBL They misrepresented the percentages on the pie chart to show suicides as a smaller part of the chart than they actually are. By my calculations, the chart is about 7% off. This chart alone should be enough to demonstrate how 'balanced' the documentary is.The show makes the claim that states with more guns have more gun deaths, despite this being debunked.To the show's credit, they acknowledged that background checks wouldn't have changed Sandy Hook or many of the other mass shootings. However, they still state that they are necessary as part of the total fabric for reducing gun violence.TL;DR: The show was not balanced and does not to try to connect the dots or paint an accurate picture of the facts. In the same way it claims the NRA uses fear to control people it is also trying to manipulate viewers using fear. CCW'ers and gun owners are negatively characterized throughout.Am I surprised? No, not really. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/1sqDx1U
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