Thread by @ClaraJeffery

1/ I'm going to tell you a story about one of the first big stories I ever personally broke, because I think it reveals a few big lessons of our era.

2/ I was a 20-something reporter at @wcp. My brother, who's in law enforcement, pointed out this ad in one of the gun magazines, Guns and Ammo it think.

@wcp 3/ This was just after the passage of the (Bill)Clinton-era assault weapons ban. Long story short, the ad led me to a story that the @DCPoliceDept was selling their high capacity magazines/clips (don't bother me with your vocab nonsense BS gun boys) back to Glock.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 4/ Glock could then sell them to non-law enforcement gun owners who wanted them, skirting the assault weapons ban. Their argument was the department needed money.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 5/ Anyway, I broke this story. This was near the height of DC's spike in shootings, to make matters worse. The interim editor of @wcp put the story of the freelancer he was dating on the cover instead. Over, er, strenuous objections of myself and others.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 6/ Then the Post stole the story, no credit of course. This was all pre internet. And then Dateline picked it up and anyway, the @DCPoliceDept had to cut it out.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 7/ Of course, some said, this just goes to show the AWB is full of holes. Yeah, plug them one by one. I plugged this one.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 8/ And, had a man not let his dick guide coverage, the paper would have gotten the credit it deserved. So yeah, another listen to women story.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 9/ Here is that story. washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/1…

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 10/ Blame the gun makers.
Blame the NRA.
Blame the politicians.
And blame any media outlet that doesn't hold all their feet to the fire, relentlessly.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 11/ And when it comes to the toxic combination of guns and white supremacy, blame every single social media company and hosting company that does not deplatform these assholes, block their videos, stop prioritizing "engagement" and "live video" over lives and and democracy.

@wcp @DCPoliceDept 12/ Finally, a story from a small indy pub to a paper to network TV—with or without credit—is still the pipeline of so many stories that eventually pop on your radar. Support the local and independent media that feeds these pipelines of news and talent.