Pre-written letter ----
Dear Mr. Kelly:
I will think twice before ordering the National Geographic magazine,
because I don't want to help you fund any more anti-gun propaganda.
Your Explorer show entitled "Guns In America" -- which has run
several times this month -- was heavily slanted to the gun control
position. The show used fallacious statistics without rebutting
them, all in an effort to demonize firearms.
For example, "Guns in America" falsely claimed that guns in the home
are 22 times more likely to kill a family member than to serve as
protection. That is simply not true. The author of this study,
Arthur Kellerman, has been discredited many times (by groups such as
the National Academy of Sciences), so it's shameful that your channel
would even cite his work.
Second, "Guns in America" overstates the number of children who die
by unintentional gunfire. In fact, when you look at the statistics
involving younger children (ages 0-14), you see that kids have a
greater chance of dying from choking on things like the peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches that you feed them. Can I expect to see a show
in the near future highlighting the danger of feeding children?
Third, "Guns in America" portrays twelve times as many negative uses
of guns as positive uses -- even though in the real world, the truth
is quite the opposite. According to statistics from the Clinton
Justice Department in 1997, guns are used at least 50 times more
often to save life than take life.
Finally, "Guns in America" only quotes anti-gun "authorities," thus
leaving the impression that all law-enforcement support gun control.
Never mind the fact that when one looks at polls of the police
community, they overwhelmingly hold pro-gun attitudes. (Please see
the poll results on the website for the National Association of
Chiefs of Police.) Why were none of these authorities ever cited?
The National Geographic Society's purpose is "to increase and diffuse
geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's
cultural, historical, and natural resources." I would submit to you
that pushing gun control is far afield from your stated purpose.
Sincerely,
You can go to
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/contact
to cut-and-paste the sample letter below into their webform. Since
you will need to select a Topic, please choose "I have a complaint."
And for "Department," we would suggest selecting "Factual Questions"
or "General."
