When does your gun collection become an “arsenal”? When the media wants to grab headlines

In the Little Havana district of Miami, Luis Bianchi was running late for work while waiting for his 3 year old daughter’s mother to come and take her. He made the inadvisable choice to leave Analis in front of the television when her mother told Luis that she was on her way and would be there shortly. Luis, blocked access to his bedroom with a couch (the reason will become apparent) and locked the front door when he left.

Analis was found wandering the halls some time later and a neighbor called police at 6:30pm.

When the police came and escorted the little girl back to her home they investigated the apartment, moved the couch and entered the fathers bedroom to find…AN ARSENAL OF AMMUNITION AND ASSAULT RIFLES….oooooo scary.

Almost every news outlet and paper included the word arsenal. Most even went on to say the house had a grenade in it. The grenade was inert thus rendering it a paperweight but instead of doing some actual research they just reported that a grenade was present and making Luis Bianchi sound like Che Guevara. Actually the liberal press loves Che so maybe not. Regardless, even after the press found out that the grenade was not active they reported it as a dud and not as inert.

The difference of course is that a dud grenade is one that is still supposed to explode and failed to while an inert grenade is one that had its explosive capabilities removed. It’s a small difference in reporting that has a huge impact on perception.

Luis Bianchi sees all this on the 11 o’clock news and goes to the police station to sort it all out. He is arrested…for CHILD NEGLECT.

I suppose that is the correct charge for leaving a 3 year old home alone, though one wonders where the mother, who was “on her way”, ended up.

But my point is that they didn’t charge Mr. Bianchi with ANY gun violations. This “arsenal”, even if it constituted the word, was still perfectly legal.

Mr. Bianchi made several mistakes; leaving his daughter alone, trusting his ex to be on time (when minutes count your ex is just…well who knows), and not securing the front door well enough to keep his daughter in the apartment.

Yet what the media is crucifying him for is being a gun owner. I’m not sure how big the couch was that blocked his door (and as such his “arsenal”) from the other room, but if it was big and heavy enough to stop a 3 year old girl from moving it then his weapons were secure from her and as such the whole aspect of the weapons is a non issue.

Which makes this case one about a father who made a ill advised choice believing his ex would be at the apartment shortly and leaving his daughter alone to wait. If the court rules to take custody away from Luis Bianchi it should be based off of this alone and not because he believes in the 2nd Amendment.

But since he is a gun owner the media will rake him over the coals and try to demonize him in order to sensationalize the entire matter and up their ratings.

Another lesson to gun owners…on top of being safe you have to be smart. Give the press any opportunity and they will toss you on the pyre in order to make their ratings rise. Don’t give them the opportunity…and don’t leave a 3 year old at home alone.