They say familiarity breeds contempt and my 15 years in newspapers certainly did that for me. Today's example that got my Irish up was this editorial in the Fresno Bee arguing for Gov. Jerry Brown to sign a raft of draconian gun laws. The passage that was particularly despicable was this one:

California led the nation in 1989 when Gov. George Deukmejian, a Republican, signed a bill banning assault weapons after the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in Stockton.

Ever since, gun manufacturers have found ways to evade the restrictions, and lawmakers have responded by trying to tighten the law. Steinberg's bill would end the argument by banning future sales in California of semi-automatic guns that can accept detachable clips, which can be emptied and rapidly replaced.

As was hammered home Monday by the shooting in Washington that killed 12 people, not including the shooter, a deranged gunman can quickly do horrendous damage.

Assault weapons? The Washington Navy Yard shooter used a shotgun. Not an "assault weapon" (defined by know-nothing journalists and gun-grabbing Democrats as scary black guns with the shoulder thing that goes up), but a Joe Biden-approved shotgun.

This formulation by the Bee editorial writers is the height of deceit and dishonesty. Once upon a time journalists would claim to simply be telling the truth, no more. Now, they are lying propagandists.

The Fresno area isn't a particularly "blue" part of the state and I would hope that Bee subscribers and advertisers would take note of the contempt the newspaper has for law-abiding gun owners.

I hope the Bee goes out of business.