According to the National Rifle Association, describing a shooting as a “shooting” is some kind of nefarious media plot to trick you into thinking of a shooting as a “shooting.”
via Media Matters
Without mentioning the Isla Vista killings by name, on May 30 the NRA published a video commentary called “Propaganda,” in which “NRA News Commentator Dom Raso exposes the inaccuracy of the media – especially regarding their reports of mass shootings.”
During a critique of the media, Raso warned viewers of a “trick” where media figures “race to label anything with a gun as a shooting, because they know how much more attention they are going to get with that word.” According to Raso, the media use the word “shooting” so that viewers are being “subconsciously told to think about the tool they used” instead of the perpetrator.
It’s also possible that viewers subconsciously think about the tool they used (guns) because that’s what guns are used for; they’re used to shoot people.
If someone is shot, it would be a good bet to say that a gun was used. It’s not as if bows and arrows are regularly used for that purpose.
Is the NRA contending that “shot” is also a suggestive word? What would they prefer; perforated? Punctured? Freedom-ed? Liberty-ed?
Area Man Accidentally Freedomed in the Chest While Cleaning Libertyvessel.
If the NRA would prefer to see headlines like “Unhinged White Bro Unloads On Innocent People” which specifically call out the identity of the perpetrator, I’m okay with that. That should be acceptable, right? After all, at least several Republican congressional candidates have promised to “unload” on everything from drones to Obamacare. Unloading is what good, wholesome people do. Shootings? Not so much.