Firearms Owners Against Crime

Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action

Media Bias: Three more episodes of The Rookie obsessed with Machine Guns, misleading claims about crime :: 05/14/2021

As the Crime Prevention Research Center has pointed out many, many times, television crime shows seem to think criminals are constantly using machine guns to commit crime. Here ABC’s The Rookie has three episodes that are obsessed with criminals using machine guns, or “assault weapons” as the show calls them (Season 3 E11 April 18, 2021; E12 April 25, 2021; and E14 May 9, 2021). These clips are just a small part of the machine guns shown being fired in these episodes.

In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there are only two known uses ever of a machine gun being used in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.

More information is available here.

So far this season we have these shows with criminals using machine guns:

NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021

CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021

CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021E5 January 26, 2021.

CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021

CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021E8 January 27, 2021E9 Feb 17 2021

CBS Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020Episode 7, February 5, 2021

CBS The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020E4 Jan 24, 2021

CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021

NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021)

NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020

NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021

In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:

CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020 

In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include: 

CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020

CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020

Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020 

FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020 

Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020

Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020

Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020

Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020

The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020

Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.

The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20 

Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15 

Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14 

Other examples of television media bias on this particular point can be found here.

media bias on guns, Television show machine gun myth, television show media bias on guns

https://crimeresearch.org/2021/05/three-more-episodes-of-the-rookie-obsessed-with-machine-guns-misleading-claims-about-crime/

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