Sandy Hook parents Mark and Jackie Barden, who lost their youngest son, Daniel, in the shooting (and are also featured in Kim A. Snyder’s more elegiac Sundance premiere, “Newtown”), are the first among many family members of gun-violence victims profiled by Soechtig and returning “Fed Up” narrator-host-exec producer Katie Couric. There’s more than just tragedy uniting the diverse group — from urban Chicago mother Pamela Bosley, whose son is one of numerous black youths in the city whose murders remain unsolved, to conservative gun owners Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, whose daughter Jessica was killed at the 2012 movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. Each of these grieving parents has been rallied into action, and seeing their stories may have a similar effect on viewers. Again and again, the film’s boogeyman is the National Rifle Assn. Soechtig is careful to draw a distinction between the lobbying org’s leadership, who have close ties to gun manufacturers and actively work to block the most common-sense attempts at gun regulation, and the rank-and-file membership, who are presented as more supportive of responsible measures (like background checks) in national polls and man-on-the-street interviews.

Couric claims this is not agitprop. According to her “gun owners are represented.” What she didn’t say was that gun owners were fairly and accurately represented… because she couldn’t.

There is one poignant scene in which a group of gun owners, in the person of members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, are asked “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?” (according to the Washington Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski, this happens at 21:48 into the film)

The panel is left stunned into silence. Presumably because only Katie Couric, she of the telegenic colon, had the intelligence to think through the repercussions of such an act.

The truth is a lot different. Back to the Free Beacon:

However, raw audio of the interview between Katie Couric and the activists provided to the Washington Free Beacon shows the scene was deceptively edited. Instead of silence, Couric’s question is met immediately with answers from the activists. A back and forth between a number of the league’s members and Couric over the issue of background checks proceeds for more than four minutes after the original question is asked.

Listen for yourself:

Will there be any fallout for Couric and her merry band of dishonest dimwits? Of course not. Lying in the service of the right political opinion is found wherever socialism or fascism flourish.