Here we go again. As Twitchy reported, the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League, whose members were made to look clueless through a bit of deceptive editing in Katie Couric’s “Under the Gun” documentary, has filed a defamation suit against Couric and the film’s director, Stephanie Soechtig.
A spokesperson for Soechtig issued a brief statement regarding the lawsuit, portraying her as the victim in the whole affair as she watches gun rights advocates trample her First Amendment rights.
Stmt from spox for "Under the Gun" Director Stephanie Soechtig: pic.twitter.com/L5lFXR7cwh
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) September 13, 2016
If we’re going to accept the premise that the First Amendment protects Soechtig’s right to make films, then can we at the very least do away with the tired argument that the founders only intended the Second Amendment to apply to muskets?
A court, of course, will have to decide if Soechtig’s right to free speech extends to altering others’ speech deliberately to misrepresent them and serve a political narrative. But to continue to play the First and Second Amendments against each other is foolish.
what a joke to act like she is being trampled upon here.
— Drew (@Drew_Homan) September 13, 2016
Too stupid to know constitution protects from gov't over reach like gun laws not right for citizen to slander another.
— Eric Greenbaum (@EricGreenbaum) September 13, 2016
There are already plenty of well known legal limitations on both speech and firearms purchases and possession, not to mention that the makers of “Under the Gun” appear to have overstepped the latter in order to exercise the former in the form of a dubious gun purchase made for the film.
* * *
Related:
‘Under the Gun’ director describes skirting federal gun laws yet did absolutely nothing wrong? https://t.co/hCcdMvVBdB
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 7, 2016
Join the conversation as a VIP Member