In the wake of the killings in Parkland, Fla., The New York Times is pressing for gun control and targeting the National Rifle Association. Reporters Richard Fausset and Tiffany Hsu reveled in a split between the GOP’s supposed natural allies, big business and the gun-rights group, in a front-page story Wednesday, “N.R.A. Battle Pits Business Against G.O.P.”
Of course, The Times took a cheap shot at Georgia for attracting business:
But prestige, boosterism and corporate coddling -- all cherished concepts in Georgia -- took a back seat this week to the national debate over gun control. In the wake of the Florida school shooting, [Delta Airlines] announced it was ending a promotional discount with the National Rifle Association, and suddenly found itself in the rare position of being openly dressed down -- and potentially punished -- by Republicans who control the statehouse.
Also on Wednesday’s front page, reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns argued “Guns Become Third Rail of the Midterm Election.” The Times quickly convinced itself an NRA endorsement is the new mark of Cain:
A host of House Republicans and a handful of the party’s governors are beginning to distance themselves from their party’s gun-rights orthodoxy...moderates recognize that bearing the mark of the N.R.A. could be fatal in their primaries.
Not surprisingly, the tone wasn’t flattering to Second Amendment supporters:
In recent years, both major parties have honored something of a nonaggression pact. As the Republican Party’s moderates thinned out, few Republicans strayed from the gun-rights line....
But with mass shootings becoming agonizingly routine, and Americans demanding action after 17 Florida teenagers and faculty members were murdered on Valentine’s Day, this election may be more like 1994, when an assault weapons ban thrust guns to the fore.
1994 was also the year the Democrats lost the House and Senate, but the story skips that part because they have a narrative to push:
But even in Texas, which has a gun culture that can be traced to its founding, the tide in the party is running clearly in the direction of gun restrictions. Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, a Democrat challenging Senator Ted Cruz, acknowledged his support for banning assault weapons would probably not poll well.
On cue, the story concluded by forecasting a bright new era for gun control.
Sometimes, said Gov. Ralph S. Northam of Virginia, who ran unapologetically on gun control and routed his Republican rival last year, “You have to be slapped in the face.”
Reporter Tiffany Hsu seemed to think the gun-grabbers can really pull it off this time, in “Protests Are Common. The Boycott of the N.R.A. Is Different”:
Through an uncoordinated but simpatico collection of Twitter hashtags, retweeted lists, Facebook groups, online petitions and carefully orchestrated campaigns, the protest has pushed a major bank, several car rental companies, two airlines and other businesses to publicly cut ties with the N.R.A.
The Times forwarded the triumph of the liberal activists at ThinkProgress, again showcasing the lack of objectivity from The Times:
ThinkProgress, a news website with a liberal bent, was among the first to spread the names, updating a list on Feb. 20 that it first published after the Sandy Hook shooting. It also published a report that the website for the N.R.A.’s official credit card was down....the boycott effort -- parts of it organic, parts of it carefully orchestrated -- was an impressive show of force against the gun lobby.
