A Florida newsweekly on Monday used a picture of religious liberty activist holding a rifle instead of the pistol that was the subject of its story, and justified it by saying the image of the larger, more powerful firearm was “just too good to pass up.”
Target announced this month it would allow transgender customers and employees to use the restrooms of their choice. The company’s new policy came in response to a law passed earlier this year by North Carolina’s state legislature banning transgender persons from doing exactly that.
In response, Liberty Counsel President Anita Staver vowed Friday that she would bring her Glock .45 with her whenever she goes into Target’s bathrooms.
She said on social media that her pistol “identifies as my bodyguard.”
Staver added in a note of explanation that she planned to bring a gun with her into Target’s bathrooms as a precaution against potential “perverts who will use the law to gain access to women.”
However, in its coverage of her public remarks, the Orlando Weekly decided against including a picture of the pistol mentioned by the Liberty Counsel president. Instead, the Florida news group used a photo of her holding a Beretta CX4 Storm model rifle.
Asked if they were unable to find a photo of the specific firearm mentioned by Staver, the group told the Washington Examiner’s media desk they went with the picture of her holding a rifle because it was, “just too good to pass up.”
The rifle photo appeared in Orlando’s tweets as well as on its website. The photo included in the group’s story carried a caption that read, “Not a Glock .45 – just another of Staver’s pals, apparently.”
The Orlando Weekly headline also claimed incorrectly that she planned to pack heat so as to “protect herself from trans people.” Staver had said only that she planned to pack heat as a precaution against “predators” looking to abuse Target’s new policy.
