Cause someone has to do it

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Believe it or not, there are only a very few things in which I am a definite authority. I just happen to know a little about a lot, but only a whole lot about a little.

Journalism is one of those things on which I am an expert.

That's why a recent request to interview me may be pause, but only briefly. The request came from a reporter from the German news magazine Stern. This is the German equivalent of Time, Newsweek, etc. As to their political slant, I have no idea.

The reporter, Frauke by name, said the magazine was doing a piece on the gun culture in America. The idea is to give German citizens a better understanding of guns and the people in the US who own them. She'd found a piece on Yahoo I'd penned on guns, gun rights and gun control.

The interview took place Sunday. It included heading out with a few guns including the Bushmaster AR15 and an AK47 among others.

Prior to the interview and even now I wonder what the slant will be if there is one. Being in the reporting business, I know how stories can be slanted to fit a point of view, whether or not the subject agrees with the POV. Mistakes also happen. I admit right here to making mistakes in articles.

What will this story be like? What is Frauke going to say about me and the other people she interviewed? Is she going to talk about our discussion of a civilian Weatherby .270 deer rifle being no different from a military sniper rifle or an infantry rifle? Is she going to discuss how fast the AR15 fired and compare that to how fast I fired a 20 gauge pump shotgun? Considering how much information I gave her, including 10 pages of information I wrote ahead of time, how much will she use in the article?

I sent her home with spent casings, the copper jacket from a rifle bullet I dug out of the berm and a one ounce 12 gauge slug I'd cast. All harmless. The slug is a chunk of lead and the other was brass, copper, plastic and steel. Nothing in it dangerous.

What made me feel really good about this story is that Frauke had never, until she came to S. Georgia, fired a gun. Charles, the photographer, said he agreed to shoot the assignment for her because she told him she'd never fired a gun before and wanted to do so to make up her own mind. Her first shot was a from a pink Crickett .22. She ended the experience firing a 20 gauge pump.

Judging from her reactions, she really liked it.

Still...

Regardless of how gun ownership is treated in the article, I will agree to be interviewed in the future if need be. Someone has to stand up and represent, no matter what the media does. The truth must be presented. Those who distort the truth, and I am not saying Frauke and Stern Magazine will do so, must be told the truth anyway.