A gun rights group has accused veteran television journalist Katie Couric of editing interview footage for her new documentary to intentionally make their organization appear foolish — and they have the audio recording to back it up.
Couric narrated and executive produced the new documentary, “Under the Gun,” which purports to present both sides of the debate over gun control. In the film, Couric interviews a group called the Virginia Citizens Defense League to get their perspective.
In the documentary, the VCDL representatives appear puzzled by one of Couric’s questions and hang their heads low, seemingly unable to answer.
“Let me ask you another question,” Couric says. “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?” Her interviewees respond with what seems to be a prolonged moment of silence.
But the full audio version of the interview that the group recorded, which it released to the Washington Free Beacon and the pro-gun website Ammoland, shows that the group did in fact answer the question right away and did so in great detail.
“If you’re a felon and you’ve done your time, you should have your rights,” one VCDL representative responds.
“Well the fact is, you do have statutes both at the federal and state level that prohibit classes of people from being in possession of firearms,” another man adds. “What we’re really asking about is a question of prior restraint, how can we prevent future crime by identifying bad guys before they do anything bad. And the simple answer is, you can’t.”
The group posted to Facebook Monday, accusing Couric of using “creative editing” to produce an “infomercial for gun control” under the guise of a documentary.
Listen to the full recording: