http://www.huffingtonpost.com/walker-bragman/guns-misinformation_b_2553021.html

Mistrust of "mainstream media" is nothing new. It can be traced back to Civil War Era southern resentment towards snobby, educated, northeastern, liberal elites trying to "impose their way of life on the South." These feelings were reaffirmed during the Civil Rights Movement when news cameras exposed the dark side of southern living, inviting criticism from reporters, celebrities and musicians. The South fought back against what they perceived as an attack on their cultural identity by developing their own media. With the advent of the Internet Age independent news has become widespread. Anyone can publish an opinion and disseminate it to an audience. As a result, a culture developed in which people have the option of picking facts based on their political beliefs, instead of the other way around. The current debate over gun control is a testament to this trend.

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Of course, today one can simply refuse to acknowledge the evidence, claim conspiracy, and still be taken seriously. Gun rights advocates are prime examples of the power of cognitive dissonance. Kleck himself responded to criticisms of his research by claiming that all his academic critics letting personal bias cloud their interpretation of the numbers. Similar claims have been repeated countless times by gun rights advocates nationwide, including conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, who accuse the media of having an anti-gun agenda. There are even those who claim that Sandy Hook was a staged event by the government and the media to take away the guns.

In spite of this trend, it would still be unfair to paint the picture that the culture of misinformation is destroying our political system -- to the contrary, these conspiracy theorists do not represent the direction America is moving, but rather a reaction to it. With an increasing number of major news publications fact checking, more and more Americans are opening their eyes, especially on the issue of guns, and politicians are taking notice. Recently, Senator Dianne Feinstein has proposed an assault weapons ban, and President Obama has outlined a new approach to gun control. The louder the gun rights echo chamber gets, the more indicative it is that the ground is shrinking underneath it.