MediaWatch: March 1995
Table of Contents:
Nightline's Selective Constitution
Koppel's Advanced Attitude
A selective reading of the Consitution is a hallmark of liberalism, and ABC's Nightline is no exception. Ted Koppel offered a narrow view of the Second Ammendment on February 14, but devoted the next night's show to an expansive take on the Fourth Amendment.
Koppel reported on Texas legislation to allow citizens to defend themselves with concealed weapons. He revealed: "I was pleasantly surprised to learn that for the past 124 years, that you were not allowed, not only to carry a concealed gun in Texas, but not permitted to carry a concealed weapon of any kind in Texas." Koppel called the restrictions "an advanced attitude for the state of Texas to be taking." Questioning the bill's sponsor, Koppel maintained "in Florida...they passed such a law in 1987, and violent crime is up by 17.8 percent." Koppel harkened back to the Wild West: "It seems to me you're sort of wanting to go back to those bad old days."
But David Kopel, co-author with Clayton Cramer of `Shall Issue': The New Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit Laws, told MediaWatch that crime records of the "bad old days" showed a "per capita murder rate [that] was seven percent of modern New York City, the burglary rate was one percent, rape was unknown." He also refuted Koppel's statements on Florida, where the violent crime rose "less than the national increase, and not by [concealed weapon] permit holders." Kopel noted: "The homicide rate plunged in Florida, from 30 percent above the national average to slightly below the national rate." Kopel addressed the point which Nightline ignored: "Violent crime has been intolerably high for the past 25 years, and people have the right to protect themselves when the federal government can't."
On February 15, Koppel focused on the effort to limit the exclusionary rule, intoning: "We pay a significant amount of lip service to the Constitution, and to the Founding Fathers who drafted it. But, Lord only help them if they were alive today trying to foist their radical ideas off on the American public in its current mood." Koppel claimed when "society is frustrated...there is an inclination to increase the powers of the police and sacrifice some of that constitutional protection. That is in the process of happening."
Reporter Chris Bury warned: "A stampede to pass the crime package could trample that other Contract with America -- the Constitution." Where was Nightline when Democrats trampled the Second Amendment?
