Pubdate: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA) Copyright: 2011 Record Searchlight Contact: http://www.redding.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360 DON'T BLAME MARIJUANA FOR CRIME WAVE It seems like every time something bad happens in this area, the media wants to find a way to connect it to medical marijuana. Most recently the Record Searchlight printed a story about someone who was experiencing meth-induced paranoia and started shooting off his gun at imaginary thieves. This story was turned into yet another article meant to vilify marijuana, even mentioning "a pot grower" in the headline. The article states that this man endangered his family and friends while trying to protect his marijuana garden from imaginary thieves. The article would have been just as informative if it had said he was trying to protect his property. Then it tells us about how the neighboring business is losing customers because of the grow. The article goes on to tell us that there were other reports of "violence related to medical marijuana grows." It reports the Montgomery Creek incident where someone was shot over a grow. It reports the attempted theft of a garden in Shasta Lake where "three men in tactical-style clothing and black face masks carrying a firearm" tried to rob a garden. The paper published a picture of Joshua Wright and tells us how the collectives are being robbed at gunpoint and Wright is one of the suspects. I like reading my paper, but I'm getting really tired of all the anti-marijuana garbage. Let me rewrite this most recent article to vilify something that many in the north state own, use and defend their rights to have. Guns. It would go something like this: Another terrible incident with guns in Shasta County: Mountain Gate man endangers his entire family by shooting at an imaginary robber while high on meth. In late August, Terence Ross Seed, 46, shot and wounded Todd Finch, 25, in a dispute over property in the Montgomery Creek area. On Aug. 29, three men in tactical-style clothing and black face masks carrying a firearm stormed Michael Wayne High's Mason Drive home in Shasta Lake shortly before midnight to try to steal High's property. Our local business owners are having guns shoved in their faces by robbers. The victims were afraid for their lives. Some friends shot through to the floor of the apartment above while playing with a gun. This could have caused death to his neighbors. Man shoots his TV because he was upset with his wife. Luckily no one got killed. Mr. Wilson shot at officers, who in turn shot back 40 times. Only by the grace of God did no one get hit by the stray bullets. If we in the north state had been overexposed to articles such as this for the past several months, meant for nothing more than to vilify firearms, what do you think the reaction would be? You would have people who have always been against guns wanting to melt them all down and allow no one access, not even law enforcement. You would have people who feel guns are not for them, but they really don't care about others, who are now feeling something really needs to be done about gun control. And then you would have the responsible gun owners who have owned guns their entire lives. They will vehemently defend their right to own firearms. They would tell us it's not the firearms' fault that criminals steal them and use them to commit crimes. They would say it's not the firearms that cause idiots to use them incorrectly. They would be very upset about how the local media was vilifying firearms. I don't know who is influencing the Record Searchlight's anti-marijuana articles, but I'm getting pretty tired of reading them. It's time to start reporting the news without taking every opportunity to vilify something that apparently someone there does not agree with. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.