As reported, an Indianapolis, IN homeowner held a burglar at gunpoint until the police arrived.
Police say that the burglar, who was armed with a screwdriver, broke in to a home on the southwest side of Indianapolis late Monday night and began rummaging around. The homeowner reportedly grabbed his self defense gun, fired a shot that struck a glass door, and then held the home invader at gunpoint until police arrived. Police reportedly took 22 year old Jorge Barrera into custody, where he now faces burglary charges.
Unfortunately, the Fox 59 news report on this self defense gun use was entitled “Homeowner Holds Burglar Hostage.” That title is inaccurate, since the word “hostage” denotes the wrongful capture and holding of an innocent person. This homeowner did not wrongful capture or hold anyone – instead, he lawfully used his gun to stop an alleged burglar and hold him until the policed arrived. This may seem like semantics, but given the unreasonable bias against gun ownership and self defense that pervades the media, it is important to not confuse illegal vigilantism with lawful self defense.
Thank you for calling the media on this use of language. It is so very important to read every article in our newspapers and other printed media and to view and listen to other media with an eye and ear toward bias. All reporters who use biased language such as "hostage" for a legal detention must be put on notice that they will not be believed or respected in the future unless they make concerted efforts to curb their biases. "Just the facts, ma'am."
I just read the article. My plan was to write to the editor and ask them to change and apologize for wrongfully accusing the home owner of hostage taking.
However the word hostage is not to be found in the article.
Maybe they subscribe to Learn About Guns?
Yep, it does look like FOX 59 changed their headline 🙂
Although the word "hostage" does still appear in the URL… But I can understand not changing the URL, given the desire to not break existing links to the story.