The Alpena News Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 issue on Page 3A contained an article titled “Political shifts, sales slump cast shadow over gun industry,” by Lisa Marie Pane of the Associated Press.

The article states background checks for firearm sales in 2016 were 27.5 million and have only been about 25 million per year since then. Of course, 2016 was when the AP and other press services were all forecasting a Hillary Clinton landslide ( they nailed that, didn’t they?!). Even at 25 million background checks, 2018 is on track to be in the top SIX years EVER, according to FBI statistics.

The newspaper industry would be lucky to have years like those. The article further states that the industry SHOT Show that is being held this week has a wait-list for exhibitors “several hundred names long.” That hardly indicates an industry that is dying.

The article also quotes John Feinblat, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, as saying “the NRA is on the rocks.” That is the gun control organization’s wish, for sure, but it isn’t fact. The NRA is as strong as ever. Did the AP interview anyone from the NRA for the article? Of course not. By the way, I urge you to investigate Everytown for yourself. They say they are for “gun safety,” but they do not offer any training in safe firearms use, but the NRA does. Their version of gun safety is to ban firearms ownership by all citizens.

The AP has a history of biased reporting and article headlines and this article was just another example. The Alpena News takes the majority of its feed from the AP and is complicit in spreading their garbage.

MIKE LEOW,

Rogers City