As I do from time to time, I was reading through the Press Release section on the Michigan DNR’s website, and discovered something that I thought was great news, but yet I never heard anything about.

Apparently 2009 was Michigan’s safest firearm season on record.  All of us Michigan hunters managed to enter the woods in pursuit of deer without one fatality.  In fact, only one fatality was recorded for the entire 2009 hunting season, and that happened during the spring turkey season.

“Apparently 2009 was Michigan’s safest firearm season on record”

But I never heard about it in the local news.  Why?  Because only negative gun-related incidences get reported by our local media, and positive hunting and/or gun-related stories get buried.

At first I had an open mind.  I figured that I had missed the story, and that our local publications would have definitely published this particular press release somewhere.  Right?  Lo and behold, though, I could only find this particular press release published in smaller community-based newspapers:  The River Country Journal, an online publication based in Southwest Michigan, published it; The Evening News, based in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, published it; and The Herald-Palladium, also located in Southwest Michigan, published it.  I also found it published in the Bay City Times on Mlive.com.

But what I didn’t find was any mention of it in the Lansing State Journal,  the Detroit Free Press, on WLNS.com (one of our local TV stations), or WILX.com (another of our local TV stations).  I wonder why that is?  You would think that such a thing would get reported in the big media outlets, and allow them to give hunters the credit that they’re due.  But it was not to be.

I hope I’m wrong, and if anyone out there happened to catch this story in or on any of the publications I mentioned, I would love to hear about it.  I have a feeling, though, that that isn’t going to happen.

I’m going to go against what our local media outlets believe in, and give Michigan hunters the credit they deserve.  It was because of all of you that a safety record like this could be achieved.

And that is to be commended.

Popularity: 2% [?]