Certain phrases can be used repeatedly over and over in negative situations to apply a negative connotation to them.
BOSTON (AP) — Boston Police investigating an armed robbery lifted a man out of a wheelchair and found he was sitting on three guns, including two with high capacity magazines and one with a laser sight.
High capacity magazines, laser sights... Ooooh scary stuff.
I'm telling you, this is a coordinated conspiracy against gun ownership. By constantly associating certain key phrases and items with only criminals, the populace will start to associate those items & words with only bad intent. That's how the original machine gun ban came around - it was argued that only criminals would need them.
Too bad for the media that their lies can be corrected in real time, eh?