In the wake of Monday’s mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, the legacy media has focused their attention on the alleged shooter’s father. Sadly, some of the reporting has been dishonest.
According to Newsweek, Robert Crimo Jr. ran for mayor of Highland Park, Illinois, in 2019. He is the father of Robert Crimo III, who was arrested and named a “person of interest” in Monday’s shooting.
The headline of the Newsweek article read, “Robert Crimo’s Father Lost Highland Park Mayor Race to Gun-Control Democrat.”
While the headline did not explicitly comment on Crimo’s political views, it arguably intended to make readers believe Crimo was a Republican or at least a supporter of the right to bear arms.
By saying Crimo lost to a candidate who was a “gun-control Democrat,” Newsweek is leading readers to believe Crimo may have been a member of the opposing party.
The headline may be slightly dishonest in its intentions, but it is not inherently false. As long as Newsweek cleared up the confusion in the body of the article, it could get away with a suggestive headline.
Except it didn’t clear things up.
In fact, Newsweek never mentioned Crimo’s political party anywhere in the article. The outlet talked about the business he owned and his failed campaign in 2019, but it conveniently left out his party affiliations.
Newsweek had no problem reporting about incumbent Mayor Nancy Rotering, whom it called “a Democrat with a long history of supporting gun control measures.” The omission of Crimo’s political affiliation appeared to be deliberate.
Did the media mislead readers on purpose?
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Crimo ran as a Democrat in 2019. Instead of reporting this fact, Newsweek left it to the reader’s imagination and even led the reader down a specific path by reporting on the positions and party of his opponent.
Newsweek was not the only outlet to omit Crimo’s party. Both the New York Post and the UK’s Independent reported on Crimo’s 2019 campaign without mentioning his political party.
The Post and the Independent also both seized on Crimo’s Twitter history. They both reported Crimo liked a tweet on May 27, that read, “Protect the Second Amendment like your life depends on it.”
The not-so-subtle implication in this reporting is that liking a pro-Second Amendment tweet somehow implicates Crimo in his son’s alleged crimes. Both outlets attempted to stir up further controversy by relating the tweet to the Uvalde, Texas tragedy, which took place on May 24.
The assumption that Crimo was somehow wrong or distasteful for liking a tweet in support of the Second Amendment is ridiculous. The Second Amendment is enshrined in our Constitution, and fighting for is inherently American.
Furthermore, the tweet is correct that the Second Amendment is a matter of life and death. The shooting on Monday is a prime example of this fact.
Highland Park has a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” including both AR-15s and AK-47s. That didn’t stop Robert Crimo III from allegedly using an “assault rifle” to murder seven people, USA Today reported.
While Crimo reportedly obtained the gun legally, Highland Park laws prohibited him from carrying it in the city. He allegedly ignored the law because that is what criminals do.
One of the main purposes of the Second Amendment is to provide Americans a way to defend themselves, and that is the point made in the tweet Robert Crimo Jr. liked. By banning weapons arbitrarily, Highland Park partially stripped away this right, and it didn’t prevent tragedy from striking.
The media can attempt to paint Robert Crimo Jr. as a radical Republican, but the truth is that he is just a moderate Democrat who apparently supports the Second Amendment. While Monday’s shooting was certainly a tragedy, the suggestion that it occurred solely as a result of conservatism is deceitful.
