Fox News Lies And Blames Bill (And Hillary) Clinton For Chattanooga Shooting

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Fox News immediately turned the death of four Marines into a partisan political issue by lying to blame former President Bill and by association Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for the Chattanooga shootings.

Video:

On Fox News’s Happening Now host Jon Scott asked Chad Jenkins, “It should be pointed out that many people might think that military service members are armed carrying their sidearms day and night, that’s not the case. It’s pretty unusual for all but the MPs to be carrying their sidearms isn’t it?”

Jenkins replied, “Well, and look at the Fort Hood shootings. We had two shootings now that were mass casualty situations and now the recruiting station. Unfortunately, the executive order put in place by President Bill Clinton back in the nineties took away the rights for service members to carry, conceal, and to protect themselves here in the homeland.”

None of what Chad Jenkins said was true.

snopes.com debunked this right-wing lie years ago:

A change in U.S. Army regulations issued in March 1993 (just two months after President Clinton assumed office) did affect the issue of personnel carrying firearms on military bases, but that change in regulations was issued by the Department of the Army and was not implemented by President Clinton via an executive order. Moreover, that change in regulations came about in response to a U.S. Department of Defense directive issued in February 1992, during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, and not at the sole behest of President Clinton.

Additionally, that change in regulations (which applied only to the Army, not other branches of the U.S. armed forces) did not ban the carrying of weapons by soldiers on Army bases; it restricted the authorization to carry firearms to personnel engaged in law enforcement and security duties, and to personnel stationed at facilities where there was “a reasonable expectation that life or Army assets would be jeopardized if firearms were not carried.”

Here is what Fox News did not tell the truth about:

1). There was no executive order.

2). The change in Army regulations was at the direction of the Bush administration in 1992.

3). The regulation only applies to the Army.

4). The regulation did not ban members of the military like the Marines from carrying weapons.

The only piece of accurate information in the entire Fox News exchange was that the rule change happened in the nineties.

According to Republicans, politicizing mass shootings is wrong unless Fox News is spreading a blatant lie to smear the top candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Before the shootings in Chatanooga, 82 of the last 86 victims of post-9/11 domestic terrorism were killed by firearms. Maybe, it’s time to stop giving everyone more firearms and have a serious discussion about how easy it is for almost anyone in this country to acquire a gun.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association