The owners of a gun store are correcting media headlines claiming a man accidentally shot himself while guarding their store.
In an apparent attempt to smear the gun owner and make an anti-Second Amendment statement, media outlets are reporting that an Oklahoma native shot himself in the arm after accidentally dropping his own firearm. Their headlines say that he was among the openly-carrying volunteers, many of them veterans, standing guard outside of a local gun shop and range after it had received death threats because of its claim to be a “Muslim-free” gun store. It almost seems as if they want the injured man to be a bumbling gun enthusiast who got sleepy during his patrol, dropped his gun out of clumsiness and put himself and others in danger.
But, the store’s owners say the man injured in the accident was a personal friend - not a guard - and he didn't drop his gun - it fell out of a faulty holster.
They say he had come by to help fix a door to an office inside the shop. He, unknowingly, had a faulty chest holster, the leather strap that secures the pistol in place broke, and when he bent down to work on the door, the pistol fell and fired when it hit the floor.
A few news media outlets are reporting the facts shared by the shop’s owners - but, they’re still keeping their false headlines. In fact, many of the outlets are running the same exact story from the Associated Press, which entirely neglects the existence of the story owners' Facebook statement.
Here’s the store’s statement on their Facebook page regarding the incident:
But, look at these headlines. You wouldn’t have any clue about the other side of this story at a glance:
- Daily Journal: “Man guarding Oklahoma 'Muslim-free' gun range accidentally drops weapon and shoots himself”
- New York Post: “Guard at ‘Muslim-free’ gun range accidentally shoots himself”
- New York Times: “Guard at 'Muslim-Free' Gun Range Accidentally Shoots Self”
- Daily Mail: “Man, 57, guarding Oklahoma gun range that declared itself 'Muslim-free' accidentally shoots HIMSELF after dropping his weapon”
- USA Today: “Volunteer guard at 'Muslim-free' store shoots himself by accident”
- ABC News: “Volunteer guard at 'Muslim Free' Oklahoma gun shop drops gun, accidentally shoots himself”
- Washington Times: “Armed Okla. man guarding Muslim-free gun store accidentally shoots self”
- Washington Post: “Guard at ‘Muslim-free’ gun range accidentally shoots self”