When it comes to deception, gun-ban groups are well practiced in the art. An excellent example is the Bloomberg-funded anti-gun group Everytown for Gun Safety and the running tally it keeps on “school shootings.”
I put “school shootings” in quotation marks in that reference because the Everytown compilation isn’t really meant to inform, it is meant to deceive. And it seems to be working.
Consider that after the Washington Post regurgitated Everytown’s deception with the headline “The San Bernardino attack is the 12th school shooting of 2017—and the second in a week,” a Google search of that claim reveals it was repeated more than a dozen times on various other websites.
But here’s the real story: Blomberg’s Everytown cronies are trying to make people believe there have been 12 instances this year in which crazed individuals rushed into elementary schools and shot dozens of young students. Just by stating that they have kept the running tally since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2013 gives that impression, regardless of the fact that they do explain otherwise further down the page.
In fact, the Washington Post is an active participant in perpetuating that deception, writing in this week’s feature, “It's the 12th school shooting of 2017, according to a running tally kept by Everytown for Gun Safety, a pro-gun-control group that sprang up in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Conn.”
The intended impression to readers: There have been 12 mass shootings of young students in grade schools this year.
Truth be told, the real running tally is far from what Everytown, the Post and other gun-ban activists would have you believe. In addition to Monday’s murder suicide, here are the other 11 “school shootings” Everytown reports. Bloomberg’s Everytown cronies are trying to make people believe there have been 12 instances this year in which crazed individuals rushed into elementary schools and shot dozens of young students.
Jan. 5, Lebanon, Ohio: 20-year-old Samuel Johnson, a student at the Warren County Career Center Vocational School, shot and killed himself in the school's parking lot.
Jan. 10, Alexander City, Ala.: An unidentified student was showing another student a handgun in his backpack, when he unintentionally discharged the gun while reaching to grab it.
Jan. 17, Eastpoint, Fla.: During student pick-up after school, a parent unintentionally discharged his handgun while sitting in his car, shooting through the floor of the car.
Jan. 20, West Liberty, Ohio: Ely Ray Serna, 17, shot and injured 16-year-old Logan Cole in the bathroom of their high school, before he was apprehended by school faculty.
Jan. 22, Manhattan, Kan.: An unidentified 19-year-old student unintentionally discharged a handgun he was carrying inside his dorm room, hitting himself in the leg.
Jan. 27, Aiken, S.C.: Following a high school basketball game, as the crowd filed into the parking lot, an unidentified male fired multiple shots from the parking lot at the crowd, striking three people.
Feb. 6, Scotlandville, La.: Following a fight in a hallway between classes, a 14-year-old student pulled out a handgun and fired multiple shots at other students, hitting a wall and a locker. Media reports indicated the shooting was spurred by a running feud over an Instagram post.
March 13, Wilberforce, Ohio: During an alleged string of armed robberies inside a residence hall, an unidentified male discharged a handgun while threatening a student.
March 15, Gaffney, S.C.: An unidentified man drove into a college campus parking lot and, in view of a group of students, fired a handgun multiple times into the air from the car, before driving off.
March 31, Pensacola, Fla.: During an argument at the college's outdoor basketball courts, an unknown person fired three shots at a group of students before fleeing the scene.
April 7, St. Paul, Minn.: A student unintentionally discharged a handgun inside of his college dorm room, firing the bullet through the wall and hitting a student in the next room in the chest. It’s interesting to note that none of these events even remotely resembled the Sandy Hook murders.
It’s interesting to note that none of these events even remotely resembled the Sandy Hook murders. It’s also interesting to note that more than half (6 of the 11) took place on college campuses—schools to be sure, but not what most people expect when they hear the words “school shooting.”
As we’ve mentioned numerous times before, any illegal use of firearms by violent criminals is a travesty. And any innocent death or injury from gunshot is a tragedy, regardless of how the shot was fired.
But by giving an inaccurate picture of what is really happening concerning “school shootings,” Everytown is deceiving people into believing a narrative that simply is not true. And while that’s not surprising, it’s certainly detrimental to those wishing to have a truthful discussion on the issue of reducing violent crime.
Mark Chesnut has been the editor of America’s 1st Freedom magazine for nearly 17 years and is an avid hunter, shooter and political observer.
