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The Washington Post’s ‘toy weapons’ vs. cops

Can you tell which of the pistols above is the "toy," in the usage of the Washington Post's Pulitzer-winning "Fatal Force" database on killings by police, and which is the real deal? Answers below.

by Real Clear Investigations
May 6, 2021
in Crime, Police
Reading Time: 6 mins read
0
The Washington Post's 'toy weapons' vs. cops (1)

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On Monday, April 19, Edgar Luis Tirado went on a one-man crime spree — important details of which are not recorded in the Washington Post’s often cited “Fatal Force” database of killings by police.

Article by Eric Felten from RealClearInvestigations.

Other accounts, though, were clear about the threat Tirado presented. The 28-year-old Texan, who suffered from bipolar disorder, started small, stealing from a Fiesta Mart in Far North Dallas early in the afternoon. When store workers tried to stop him, he produced a black revolver, pointed it at them, and then ran.

The next police heard of Tirado, it was nearly 4 P.M. He was in a school parking lot, wielding the handgun in an attempted carjacking. When police caught up with him half an hour later, he reached for the gun, which he had in the back of his pants, and leveled it at officers. The police held their fire, and Tirado fled.

Half an hour later, the man robbed a CVS drugstore, threatening the store manager with his pistol. When the police next caught up with Tirado, he ran across multiple lanes of traffic, dodging cars and leaping over concrete barriers before turning and again aiming his revolver at police. This time, officers shot and killed him.

But the Post’s “Fatal Force” tally notes Tirado’s death simply: He was “a 28-year-old Hispanic man with a toy weapon.”

One might be forgiven for thinking, from that description – “a toy weapon” — that Tirado had an orange plastic water gun or some other obvious plaything. But Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia explained at a press conference that Tirado had in hand a “replica handgun,” a fake “that looked exactly like a revolver.” It wasn’t just police who thought Tirado had a real revolver; the grocery and drug store employees who found themselves on the business end of Tirado’s fake gun believed it to be the real deal.

So why does the Post’s seminal database for researchers on police violence, begun in 2015, call it a “toy weapon” when even the short wire report it carried on the killing notes it was a “replica handgun”?

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RealClearInvestigations reached out to the Post’s “Fatal Force” team for comment or explanation, but got no response.

“Using the word ‘toy’ is a bit deceiving,” says Patrick Burke, the executive director of the Washington DC Police Foundation. “These are made to look like lethal weapons, and often an officer doesn’t have the time to distinguish whether it is real or fake.”

The paper didn’t always fail to distinguish between fake guns and toy guns. When it was two years into the Fatal Force project, which won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2016, the Post reported that 86 people in its tally had been killed by police while brandishing weapons that “looked real” but weren’t. Many had been carrying BB guns, others had pellet guns or replica weapons. The Post labeled only two as carrying “toy” guns.

Typical from that early period is the entry for Dana Bruce Ott, “a 63-year-old white man with a toy weapon,” who was shot in 2015 by Colorado Springs police. In that entry, the Post noted that Ott was killed when he “aimed what turned out to be an air rifle at officers and approached them.” The phrase “what turned out to be” makes it clear that in the moment of confrontation, the weapon looked like a real gun.

The Post says “toy weapon,” but the sourced news reports (here and here) say something quite different. Washington Post “Fatal Force” Database

But today the reader will likely look in vain for such clarifying qualifications from the Post. Since the beginning of 2020, its “Fatal Force” database has described 34 of those shot by police as wielding “toy” weapons, differing from the outside local reports referenced as sources, which make clear that all but three of those weapons were realistic-looking fake guns, including replicas, BB guns, and pellet guns. The three outliers were also not toys per se, but other objects that looked like guns.

“Most if not all of these items are not toys,” said Alan Kaufman, a senior vice president at the Toy Association. Instead, they are “non-powder guns” such as BB, pellet, airsoft, and paint guns. “These items very often look much like powder guns, often intentionally,” Kaufman says. He emphasizes “these items are definitely not toys.”

The distinction would likely be readily evident to shoppers perusing Amazon.com – whose founder, Jeff Bezos, owns the Washington Post. It sells toy guns as well as many replica pellet and BB guns, including revolvers nearly identical to the gun used by Tirado.

But in the Post database, when it comes to most cases involving BB guns and the like, readers are left with the impression police regularly shoot suspects armed with nothing more threatening than a child’s plaything.

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How should Post readers judge the case of Malcolm Comeaux, who was killed by FBI agents attempting to arrest him? The Houston Chronicle quotes police saying that Comeaux “suddenly grabbed what appeared to be a black revolver handgun from his waistband as the agents had their guns drawn. Detectives later determined that the object was a pellet gun that resembled a handgun.”

According to the Post, Comeaux was “a 24-year-old Black man with a toy weapon.”

Image by Jabbacake from Pixabay



‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us

Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.

For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.

It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.

The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.

The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.

There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are on track to be short by about $4100 per month in order to maintain operations.

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The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.

During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.

We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.

As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.

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Yes, We Need Your Help

I hate being “that guy” who asks people to donate because I think our conservative news network is so crucial, but here I am…

When I left my cushy corporate job in 2017, I did so knowing that my family would have to make sacrifices. But I couldn’t continue to watch the nation slip into oblivion and was inspired by President Trump’s willingness to fight the good fight even at his own personal expense. What I didn’t realize then is that conservative media would be so heavily attacked, canceled, and defunded that the sacrifices would be extreme.

Many in this nation are struggling right now even though we weren’t struggling just a few years ago. I’m not alone. But I wake up every morning and operate the sites we’ve been able to build because there’s really no other choice. I refuse to be beholden to Big Tech like so many other conservative news outlets, which is why you won’t see Google ads here. With that said, it’s often challenging to pay the bills and it’s even harder to expand so we can get the America First message out to a wider audience.

The economic downturn has forced me to make a plea for help. Between cancel culture, lockdowns, and diminishing ad revenue, we need financial assistance in order to continue to spread the truth. We ask all who have the means, please donate through our new GiveSendGo. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to expand our reach so the truth can get to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.

We currently operate:

  • NOQ Report
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I would even be willing to entertain investments and partnerships at this stage. I’ve turned them down in the past because editorial purity is extremely important. I’ll turn them down again if anyone wants us to start supporting RINOs or avoid “taboo” topics like voter fraud, vaccines, or transgender supremacy. But I’d talk to fellow America First patriots who want to help any (or all) of our 10 news sites. Hit me up at jdrucker (at) substack (dot) com if you’re interested.

For those who have the means and just want to help keep the mission of spreading a conservative, Christian message to the nation, please consider a generous donation.


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NPR acknowledges Big Tech's power to interfere in elections at their leisure

NPR acknowledges Big Tech's power to interfere in elections at their leisure

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