WASHINGTON. D.C. –-(Ammoland.com)- An article by Associated Press Reporter, Michael Balsamo, that ran on the same day that the new proposed ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) regulations on unfinished frames and receivers came down said that his source for his article was an “unnamed Justice Official”, but an internal leak called that claim into question?
The report was one of the first articles published by a press organization covering the new proposed regulation. The reporter claimed to get information from a Senior Justice Official that was not authorized to speak to the press.
An email leaked to AmmoLand News calls into question whether the information came from an unnamed source or if it was a provided, approved and coordinated effort by the ATF Public Affairs Division to get a positive spin at the top of the news cycle, through a so-called “journalist”.
The ATF Public Affairs Division Chief April Langwell’s email leaked
to AmmoLand News shows links to the Justice Department’s press release
and provides instructions on referring media inquiries from news
organizations and points out the.
The email also confirms that the ATF gave the AP the exclusive and talking points for the article in question. It brings up the question as to why the AP would claim it need to tap an “unknown source” if the ATF was already providing the news agency with exclusive information about the proposed regulations.
A common tactic used in the government and the industry is to ‘leak’ or grant exclusives access to a friendly journalist to beat what could be negative press. The coverage from Balsamo was generally positive towards the proposed rules and talked about unserialized firearms showing up at crime scenes. Mr. Balsamo, whose Twitter banner pictures him with the ATF shooting an AR15 SBR (short-barreled rifle), also calls the making of unserialized guns a loophole even though Americans have produced them since the founding of our country.
Click the link to read the whole article: Leak Says ATF Gave Info To AP Reporter
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