Free Republic

Guns are dangerous. But myths are dangerous, too. Myths about guns are very dangerous, because they lead to bad laws. And bad laws kill people. "Don't tell me this bill will not make a difference," said President Clinton, who signed the Brady Bill into law. Sorry. Even the federal government can't say it has made a difference. The Centers for Disease Control did an extensive review of various types of gun control: waiting periods, registration and licensing, and bans on certain firearms. It found that the idea that gun control laws have reduced violent crime is simply a myth. I...

CBS News' ethical standards are being challenged after veteran reporter Mike Wallace's appearance at an anti-gun Brady Center fund-raiser in Washington, D.C., last month. At the event, held at the French Embassy, Wallace played a clip of his "60 Minutes" interview with then-NRA president Charlton Heston, whom he described as the "self-righteous enemy of the Jim and Sarah Brady Bunch," reported blogger and radio host Cam Edwards at NRANews.com. Edwards said that afterwards, Wallace mocked Heston by holding up his hands, as if holding a rifle, and saying, "in my dead hands ... remember when he used to hold up...

An upbeat outlook on the media’s future David Halberstam discusses past, present and future of journalism 11/30/04 By James S. Tyree Transcript Staff Writer David Halberstam Monday night sat in a comfy chair at the Oklahoma Memorial Union for an intimate chat with a few hundred people celebrating the opening of Gaylord Hall. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist discussed his long career that stretched from rural Mississippi to the rice paddies of Vietnam and back to post-9/11 New York. “For 50 years I’ve been paid to learn,” Halberstam said during a dinner event at the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom. “It’s been...

Sept. 25 —  A sickly schadenfreude is pervading the coverage of Bob Greene’s swift demise. A little over two weeks ago, Greene was one of the country’s best-paid journalists, writing a four-times-a-week syndicated column for the Chicago Tribune. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 15, a 1988 hotel-room encounter with a teenager came to light.GREENE RESIGNED, apologizing for his “indiscretions.” The Tribune covered the story on its front page. Since then, Chicago’s been awash in gleefully salacious tales of Greene’s other purported extramarital affairs: Steve Dahl, a Chicago shock jock, invited women who were willing to divulge the details of their dalliances...