Some Seattle police officer had a big slip-up, leaving his patrol rifle on the back of his patrol car and even driving off with it still there.

But what really stood out to me was the choice of words used in the article:

SEATTLE — The Seattle Police Department says they are “very embarrassed” after an assault rifle was left unattended on the back of a patrol car Monday night.

First published by The Stranger, Nick Gonzales snapped a picture of the menacing-looking rifle on the trunk of a Seattle Police car.

 

 

“Assault rifle”…. no, it’s just a rifle, and actually when an AR-15 is used by the police the politically correct term is “patrol rifle”. “Menacing-looking”. Only to you.

I’m not excusing what happened, but the bias of and fear within the author is evident.

Hoplophobia, alive and well.