By Gerard Valentino

As soon as the bill designed to fix the poison pills in Ohio’s concealed-carry legislation was introduced the establishment media began their predicted smear campaign. The usual suspects were represented in the crusade of misinformation about the bill with the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper leading the charge.

Ohio’s current concealed-carry law requires the state’s sheriffs to give a list of license holders in their county to any member of the media. Several newspapers then published a complete list of license holders in their county. The Cleveland Plain Dealer also keeps a current list on their website.

The proposed bill revising the law protects battered spouses and people receiving death threats by giving them the option of signing an affidavit, under the penalty of perjury, stating they fear for their life. Once they present the affidavit to their respective sheriff they can opt out of having their information released.

Ohio’s establishment media sees this as an affront to the first amendment freedom of the press. Knowing, however, that they would quickly lose the battle of public opinion if the truth about the new bill became known they have purposely printed misinformation by claiming it would completely eliminate their ability to get the names of license holders.

At best, they are misinformed about the bill - more likely they are making a concerted effort to trick Ohio’s citizenry.

So, we have yet another instance of the establishment media making the news instead of just reporting it. Not surprising considering their openly anti-gun agenda and history of pandering to anti-gun extremists.

Members of the establishment media defend their practice of printing license holders’ private information as a matter of public safety by claiming Ohioans have the right to know who among them is carrying a gun. They also try and spin it as a way to verify that criminals or someone otherwise ineligible are not getting a license.

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Yet, they have failed to show a single instance where a license should not have been granted or where printing a license holder’s name benefited the public.

In contrast there is a case where the name of a license holder was printed in a newspaper and the license holder was murdered shortly thereafter. There have also been cases of a landlord reading the name of one of their tenant’s on a list of license holders and then evicting that person and their family.

Regardless, the establishment media continues the practice even though it needlessly puts Ohio’s most honest citizens at risk.

The current debate over affording stalker victims and battered spouses the right to keep their personal information private is just the latest example where Ohio’s establishment media fails the objectivity standard. There were also cases of reporters knowingly using false information in stories covering the National Rifle Association’s decision to pull their 2007 convention of out Columbus and outright falsification was also the M.O. of the establishment media during the debate over Ohio’s original concealed-carry bill.

Even when reporters are openly pushing an agenda it is the job of the newspaper editorial board to use informed and well reasoned research as a basis for a stance on public policy issues. Instead they further twist, cajole, and fabricate information to fit their anti-gun agenda and their decision to do so over the new concealed-carry bill in Ohio exposes their duplicity.

The establishment media is further exposed by using canned statistics willed into existence by the anti-gun movement while gun rights proponents base their arguments on statistics from seemingly less worthy organizations like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department. Luckily, as access to the FBI crime reports become accessible on the internet many of the establishment media’s anti-gun “truths” are being shown to be fabrications.

Rathergate and Jason Blair’s antics gave credence to argument from the right that the establishment media’s leftist agenda was based on supposition and outright lies.

Ohio’s battle to restore the right to self defense has shown the leftist establishment media hasn’t learned anything from Rather and Blair’s fall from grace. Instead they continue to use misinformation to push their dangerous agenda and try to save the anti-gun movement which is one of their golden geese.

In this case the establishment media is using their bully pulpit to try and shape the debate on guns but we’ve seen it with other important public policy issues like taxes, health care and welfare reform. Their tactics to shamelessly prop-up the anti-gun movement with full knowledge that their information is faulty continues to erode their credibility.

Those on the right always knew the leftist media was analogous to the emperor that wasn’t wearing any clothes. Now, it appears, just like the emperor in the children’s story only the establishment media doesn’t realize they are naked.