Fake news: There haven’t been 18 school shootings this year
Sunday’s commentary by Ted Rall perpetuates the lie that there have been 18 school shootings this year in the United States. According to several news outlets, Everytown For Gun Safety, a nonprofit group, tweeted out that there have been 18 school shootings in the United States in 2018. One leading newspaper in the United States stated this group has “long inflated its total by including incidents of gunfire that are not really school shootings.”
One example was a man who committed suicide outside a Michigan elementary school. The school had been closed for seven months, and there were no teachers or students present.
An analysis of the school shootings Everytown reported found that just five happened during school hours. While this is too much, it is not the epidemic that the group and analysts such as Mr. Rall attempt to make it out to be.
We will never have any sensible debate as long as the lies about the problem continue. Let’s stop the lies and get down to solving the problem.
