The following hash of reporting was found online :
£1 for the gun that crippled my Dave
Aug 22 2005
By LIAM MURPHY, Liverpool Echo
David Hazel with partner Patti Williams after being paralysed by a gunshot in the back
THE partner of a man left paralysed by a BB gun has told of her horror at finding similar weapons for sale for just £1.
Father-of-three David Hazel, of Eastham, was shot in the back in a random attack as he left his house last year.
The former soldier was paralysed for life from the waist down when the pellet lodged in his spine.
Since then his partner Patti Williams and their family have been campaigning for the guns to be banned, with the support of Wirral West MP Stephen Hesford.
But this week, while shopping in Ellesmere Port, Ms Williams went into Pound World where she discovered BB guns being sold for £1 each…
Full story here : LIVERPOOL ECHO
The article has inflamed a lot of outcry from the airsoft community not only because it is factually incorrect (we are more than used to that), but because it is in effect scaremongering of the worst kind.
Consequently I have complained to the Press Complaint Commission and I urge you to read the article and decide for yourself what you should do.
My complaint:
1 i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.
ii) A significant inaccuracy, mis-leading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published.
iii) The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.
This article is factually incorrect and deliberately misleading in content. Specifically:
“Then there’s no stopping someone modifying these - that is how accessible they are.”
It is impossible to modify a £1 “springer” pistol to become a lethal weapon.
“The former soldier’s spinal cord was severed by a ball bearing in the attack in outside his home in Woodchurch, Wirral, in June 2004.”
It is clear that the reporter doesn’t know the difference between the types of items described. A £1 pistol could on no account give the injury mentioned here. The pistols being sold are “airsoft” guns. I am regularly shot by airsoft guns vastly more powerful than any £1 pistol and sustain nothing more than a slight bruise. No £1 gun can fire at a velocity needed to harm a human.
The journalist has in my view distorted the facts to paint a picture of lethality that doesn’t exist. For the layman a good analogy would be as follows:
– A man is attacked with a samurai sword, and subsequently a damning article is produced claiming that fencing foils should be banned –
There is a strong need for a clarification in this matter. It is impossible that the facts in the article are correct and the entire text shows signs of careful construction so as to fabricate a picture which is obviously entirely wrong.
Most damningly under section 1iii and the following:
“LAST year David Hazel was left paralysed from the waist down after being shot in the back by a man with a BB gun in what police described as a random and motiveless attack.”
Whilst the victim in this case may not know the difference between dangerous weapons and harmless airsoft replicas it is imperative that any journalist actually checks their facts before inflaming an already misunderstood issue.
Please act.
Many thanks
Grrrr. I seriously dislike the press sometimes.
Basho & Cesca are traveling with:
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