Important headlines for July 19th A+ reporting on the NRA
Bottom Line: These are stories you shouldn't miss and my takes on them...
NRA's grades for Florida candidates are out. Who got an A+? - Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: The National Rifle Association has released new grades for Florida candidates, and Republican candidate for governor Adam Putnam is on the top of the list.
Putnam — who has been targeted by student activists for proclaiming himself to be a “proud NRA sellout” — received an A+ from the gun rights organization with an estimated 5 million members.
Putnam scored better than his Trump-endorsed primary opponent U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis. The NRA gave him an A.
Three Democratic candidates for governor scored F’s — Andrew Gillum, Gwen Graham and Philip Levine. Winter Park businessman Chris King was given a question mark, while Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene — a latecomer to the race — was omitted from the list.
Hot Take: To the credit of the Sun Sentinel reporter there wasn't any editorializing in this piece. On another hand that it was the top story of the Sun Sentinel yesterday and we all know what this is about. The NRA has been made to be the bogey man. Rather than seeking answers and accountability from the failures at the FBI, the Broward School District, BSO, etc., a completely unrelated entity was made to be the focus of ire by activists – even more so than the murderer himself. The NRA. As a result, something that the NRA's done every election cycle with essentially zero coverage from local media is now being made into a huge story to excite those who aren't fully informed and are led by emotion over facts.
It'd be helpful if the local media would take half as much interest in informing the public that far more lives are saved by defensive use of firearms than ever taken by them. That the average legal gun owner is 50% less likely to commit any crime than someone who doesn't legally own a firearm. That Florida has the highest concealed carry permit rate in the country and our crime rate hit a 47-year low. That the NRA had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in Parkland but alas I'll have to continue to be that person. And here's the thing...as I've mentioned before...I'm not a member of the NRA and I don't agree with their entire agenda. In fact, using their grading system I'd likely get a C grade from them based on my views on reforms. But that's all beside the point. I always search for the facts and the truth and I go where they take me. Is that too much to ask of those in the media whose job it is to simply report them?
Until Tomorrow...