I’ve worked with reporters who could not articulate the difference between a shotgun and a rifle.

I know an editor in South Dakota, a senior editor, who did not know that sights were the little metal things on top of a pistol that told you were the barrel was pointed.

I’m generalizing, but I think I’m on pretty safe ground when I say that as a whole, most journalists don’t know much about guns. And I’ve never met one who understood the gun culture.

I’ve long thought that someone should offer comprehensive firearms training for the Fourth Estate.

Well, someone has finally stepped up to fill that niche, and his name is Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City.

The Phoenix-based Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, which is affiliated with the Columbia Journalism School, recently announced they are offering a two-day workshop on covering guns and “gun violence.” It’s open to reporters, editors, bloggers and photographers.

Here’s their rationale:

“When it comes to reporting on guns, local and regional reporters bear the primary burden. They are often trapped into narrow deadline-driven beats with little time to develop expert sources, investigative angles or broader perspectives,” the release states. “And newsrooms and news managers are unprepared for the overwhelming, spasmodic tragedy of mass shootings. As a consequence, incidents of gun violence are too often viewed in isolation as random, inevitable tragedy rather than part of a wider phenomenon with complex causes but amenable to prevention efforts.”

There are even thirty $350 stipends available, to defray travel and lodging costs – a boon for cash-strapped smaller newspapers and television stations.

There’s one catch, which is noted in the last line of the press release: “This workshop is being made possible by a generous grant from Everytown for Gun Safety.”

Everytown is, of course, one of Mayor Bloomberg’s proxy groups, and one of the country’s most active anti-gun organizations.

According to the release, speakers include: “national public health and policy experts; researchers and clinicians; award-winning journalists, and prevention advocates and survivors.”

Lacking is anyone from the firearms industry.

Problems with this? You bet. Issues like transparency, objectivity and bias come to mind.

I wonder how many editors would send reporters to a similar workshop sponsored by the National Rifle Association or the National Shooting Sports Foundation, even though the former has been providing firearms training for around 143 years.

Most editors would never allow one side of any contentious debate to provide coverage tips and techniques to their staff. But when it comes to guns, it’s okay — the double standard is allowable.

Disgusting.

This “workshop” isn’t journalism training.

It’s proselytizing.