I’d like to open this letter with a quote from: The Associated Press, STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES.

“In the 21st century, that news is transmitted in more ways than ever before – in print, on the air and on the Web, with words, images, graphics, sounds and video. But always and in all media, we insist on the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior when we gather and deliver the news.

That means we abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions. It means we will not knowingly introduce false information into material intended for publication or broadcast; nor will we alter photo or image content. Quotations must be accurate, and precise.”

In light of this pledge of integrity, particularly bias and inaccuracies, how could you in all good conscience, release the story vilifying the AK-47 type rifle by AP writer Matt Sedensky?

His story is rife with bias, inaccuracy, and deception. Examples are as follows:

1. “Figures from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, obtained by The Associated Press through public records requests, show a marked increase in the number of AK-type weapons traced and entered into the agency's computer database because they had been seized or connected to a crime.”

Sedensky leads the reader to believe that only “crime guns” are checked through BATF computer tracing when in fact, this is not true. Many firearms are checked through the BATF that have no connection with any crime. Any FFL dealer who buys or sells a firearm to a legal, law abiding citizen has to run the serial number through the BATF trace computers.

2. “Bullets fired by AK-47s travel at a higher velocity than those from many other weapons, and can do grievous damage to the body. Often they have enough energy to pass clear through.”

Again, the writer misleads the reader into believing that the 7.62X39mm round fired in the AK type rifle is especially lethal. The truth is; that particular round is considered capable of taking medium sized game such as deer and coyote. There is much higher velocity and higher energy ammunition that has been available to hunters and shooters for over a hundred years.

3. “A 2004 study by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence concluded the U.S. ban on AKs and other guns was successful, saying in the five years before its passage, assault weapons made up 4.82 percent of ATF crime gun traces, compared with 1.61 percent between 1995 and 2003.”

Of course the number of traces went down, it was illegal to sell this firearm. Also, his source material is about as biased as you can get concerning gun control. A more neutral source would have been the Dept. of Justice. But, I don’t think their information fit the writers intentions as the DOJ has found that the Clinton gun ban had NO effect on crimes utilizing these particular firearms.

4. “Most of the AKs on American streets are semiautomatic, meaning they fire as fast as the gunman can squeeze the trigger. Fully automatic ones, common on the battlefield, require just one pull of the trigger to release a burst of fire.”

Sedensky’s anti-gun bias veritably drips from this statement. Not only is it inaccurate in the description of how a semiautomatic firearm works, it is an extremely inflammatory remark. The proper description of the operation consists of a single pull of the trigger results in a single round being fired. The action cycles to load another round but the trigger must be pulled again to fire. I also take great offense to the description of the person doing the shooting as being a “gunman”. This conjures up visions of criminals doing bad things, which I’m sure was the effect Sedensky was trying to achieve.

He includes one small, token paragraph of an opposing view from a representative of the NRA but immediately jumps back into the emotional, “blood in the streets” invective so often abused by the gun control crowd.

I would hope that the Associated Press would like to be held in the highest esteem of editorial behavior. But, to continue to release such biased, inaccurate “stories” such as this and a similar, related story by Keith Ridler, will lower the level of journalistic integrity at AP to the level of supermarket tabloid.

Please, feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter and I would like to inform you that I will be sending a copy of this letter to any and all news outlets I find carrying this story.

Thank you.

Carl Stevens