FAKE NEWS EXPOSED: Texas Tribune Caught Reporting Falsehoods about El Paso Mass Shooter to Demonize Gun Sellers

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Aug 30, 2019

The Texas Tribune was caught peddling fake news about how this month’s El Paso, TX mass shooter obtained his weapons and ammunition this week, claiming erroneously that he purchased them directly from overseas, and then refusing to own up to their mistakes, a Texas gun seller has revealed.

“Texas Tribune you need to retract this article and make corrections. I recorded my conversation with your reporter and I specifically told her,” wrote Michael Cargill, founder of Central Texas Gun Works, in a Facebook post.

Cargill claims that he told Tribune reporter Jolie McCullough to “check and verify because I doubt very seriously the shooter purchased this gun from overseas,” adding that “what he probably did was purchased online in the US and had it shipped to a gun store near him” because ammo can be purchased “online but not overseas, and yes in Texas you can have the ammunition shipped to your home.”

Cargill added: “Ross Ramsey, I would really appreciate it if this story was corrected. #BadJournalism.”

Ramsey, executive editor and co-founder of the Tribune, challenged Cargill’s contentions and inferred that the story was good journalism and that Cargill had not read the whole story. This promoted Cargill to post screen shots before and after the Tribune made deceptive edits proving that they did publish the fake news and tried to hide it.

“Texas Tribune was busted. Screenshots proved they edited an article without annotating the article was changed. They tried to call Michael Cargill a liar until he produced recordings and screenshots. Then they changed the article three times until it was correct,” Central Texas Gun Works wrote on their official Facebook page.

Eventually, the fake news publication did issue an underwhelming clarification where they took no responsibility for their irresponsible and biased reporting.

The Tribune wrote: “This story has been updated to clarify how ammunition from overseas can be shipped to consumers’ homes.”

Interestingly, they did note that Walmart is one of their corporate sponsors.

“Walmart has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors,” they wrote.

Although the Tribune claims that “financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism,” it would explain why the fake news publication would be eager to demonize independent gun dealers who are competitors to Walmart, the superstore chain that has embraced gun control in recent weeks.