Reporters’ Laptops, Tablets, and Recorders Should be Registered Like Guns

by Gary DeMar 

The First Amendment is a reporter’s ticket to say or write anything as long as it’s not defamatory. Notice that the prohibition is directed at Congress:

“Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . .”

Congress is still in the picture in the Second Amendment:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed [by Congress].”

Congress is the national legislative body that cannot make laws that prohibit “people to keep and bear arms” in the same way that it can’t make laws that infringe on the freedom of speech and press. And yet, there are government regulations, forms to fill out, background checks, and a whole host of other legal add-ons to what the Second Amendment specifically prohibits.

So why aren’t similar restrictions placed on the media when it comes to their freedom to write and speak on political issues? Why do we find so many media outlets getting behind government directives to limit the freedom expressly stated in the Second Amendment but would find any similar restriction deplorable if the government were to go after First Amendment rights (unless it’s religion)?
I think it’s time that we call on Second Amendment defenders in Congress to push for the regulation of news reporters and the devices they use to report the news. We need a “task force” to look into establishing some government regulations since most reporters today have aligned themselves with the party in power. Even liberals are beginning to notice:

“Earlier [last week] week, [Kirsten] Powers acknowledged the discomfort that many statists feel when confronted by conservative beliefs because their dominance of the media prevents them from being exposed to such thinking. [On January 25, 2013], Powers continued taking on the media saying that the White House press corps is ‘juvenile and amateurish’ in how they cover Obama and swoon over his every move.

“‘We need to hire grown-ups to cover the president,’ Powers said during the [January 25^th] edition of Fox News Channel’s ‘Happening Now’ program. . . “National Review columnist John Fund lamented, particularly about the White House Press Corps, ‘Part of the job, unfortunately, of a White House reporter now is to report the White House’s point of view because you can’t get any other real news, and the problem is if you don’t provide context. That is not being done in the White House. It’s one thing to report what the president believes; another thing not to provide any context.’”

I propose that before any story can be published, a reporter should have to take a lie detector test to demonstrate that what’s being described is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Laptops, tablets, and recording devices must be registered with the government to make sure they are not being used improperly. There have been numerous cases where video tape has been edited to put a negative slant on a story.
Paperwork must be filed out on every story testifying that each side of a story has been fairly represented. Competency tests need to be conduct as well. Does a reporter have any mental illnesses? Are they taking mind-altering prescription drugs that might affect their reporting objectivity?
Obviously, I’m not being serious. It will never happen, and I wouldn’t want it to happen. But some of the same arguments that are being used that would limit the freedoms in the Second Amendment could just as easily be applied to the First Amendment for similar pragmatic reasons.

When a president is elected, he can start a war that results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. If controls on guns for individual citizens are designed to stop mass killings, then a similar argument can be made about a president’s policies. Powers continued with this gem of a comment:

“The purpose of a journalist is to hold people in power accountable. I know this is probably a surprise to some journalists today, but that is actually what they’re supposed to be doing.”

Today’s media are not doing their job. If they want to get behind more gun control, then it’s about time that we push for some media control.