How many times have we heard establishment press members, particularly broadcasters, insist that no one on the left side of the gun control discussion wants to take away anyone's guns? Just a few examples include CNN's Piers Morgan, CNN's Carol Costello, and MSNBC's Alex Wagner, even after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was quoted in the New York Times before Christmas saying that "confiscation could be an option." Currently, New York, as Hot Air's Jazz Shaw noted in late April, actually is confiscating guns, based on "the exercise of reasonable professional judgment" of "mental health professionals."
Though I'm sure they'll try, the deniers are going to have a hard time explaining away what the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs has reported with accompanying audio. After the conclusion of a hearing of New Jersey's Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, an open mic captured the following discussion among three Democratic senators (HT PolitiChicks via Instapundit; internal link and bolds are in original):
An astute person listening to the official audio recording of yesterday’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing noticed that the official recording continued following conclusion of the hearing. The discussion that was caught, apparently among several senators and staff, is outrageous, and reveals legislators’ true view of gun owners.
A YouTube video with an excerpt of that recording has been posted here. The following lines can be heard in the recording:
"We needed a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate.”
"They [gun owners] want to keep the guns out of the hands of the bad guys, but they don’t have any regulations to do it.”
"They don’t care about the bad guys. All they want to do is have their little guns and do whatever they want with them.”
"That’s the line they’ve developed.”
The discussion appears to be among Senator Loretta Weinberg (D37), Senator Sandra Cunningham (D31), Senator Linda Greenstein (D14), and at least one member of Senate Democratic staff.
As would be expected, the New Jersey Star-Ledger has tried to dispute what's right there in the recording:
Pro-gun advocates angry over N.J. lawmakers' hot-mic comments
... The recording opens with what sounds like a senator or staff member saying, "We needed a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate" — although it is not clear who is speaking or if this is what she is saying.
... Weinberg (D-Bergen) said today she does not know who said the word "confiscate."
I would suggest the Star-Ledger reporters Brent Johnson and Matt Friedman clean the crud out of their ears. My computer has pretty mediocre audio, and I could clearly hear what the pair is trying to claim wasn't clear.
A search at the Associated Press's national site on "confiscate New Jersey" (not in quotes) returns no results. A Google News search on ["New Jersey" confiscate] (typed exactly as indicated between brackets, sorted by date with duplicates) returns four items, with only the NJ.com/Star-Ledger's items coming from the establishment press.
It would appear that the press doesn't want to disturb the ignorance, perhaps feigned, of Piers Morgan, Carol Costello, Alex Wagner, and others who claim that no one wants to confiscate guns, even though they do -- and in New York, even as they are.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
