Following that fatal school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas that took the lives of 10 people, CNN decided to update its map of school shootings so far in 2018. According to CNN, there have been 22 school shootings so far this year, or around one shooting every week.
CNN also floated a graphic claiming that there have been 288 school shootings in the United States since 2009, while Mexico came in second place with only 8.
Look at this > pic.twitter.com/tKyTNy9HWm
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) May 21, 2018
This is CNN we’re talking about, so is the network comparing apples and bananas again? After the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., even The Washington Post debunked Everytown’s claim that it was the 18th school shooting this year, noting that Everytown for Gun Safety counts “any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds” as a school shooting.
By Everytown’s standard, the first school shooting of 2018 was a suicide in a car parked outside an elementary school that had been closed for seven months.
What's the methodology on this? I'm extremely skeptical of that count.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 21, 2018
Different methodologies for every country. @CNN is literally comparing apples to oranges to bananas to a toaster oven.
— Angus T. Kirk (@angusparvo) May 21, 2018
The Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski decided to look into CNN’s school shooting count, and this is what he found:
If CNN’s list of school shootings is limited to incidents where a student is either the victim or perpetrator of a shooting by an actual gun on school grounds, only 12 of the 22 incidents would qualify. Of those 12 incidents, 9 happened at K-12 schools and 3 happened at universities. Most of those 12 do not closely resemble the shootings in Sante Fe or Parkland. Most were targeted attacks on a single victim or did not result in serious injuries. Four of the 12 shootings resulted in fatalities, 3 resulted in multiple fatalities, and 2 (Sante Fe and Parkland) were mass shootings where more than 4 people were killed.
Bruising from a bb gun, accidental shootings, and incidents that don't involve students or staff make up almost half of CNN’s school shooting count. https://t.co/iLsxutaEjC
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 22, 2018
I did some additional research on the 2017/2018 school year while writing this piece that I may roll into a second piece. I'll give you all a little bit of insight on what I found here first.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 22, 2018
From what I saw, this school year has been worse than normal (when compared to Northeastern University's research) for those killed in school shootings because of the high death tolls in the horrific Parkland and Santa Fe shootings.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 22, 2018
However, there were 5 fatal school shootings in the 2017/2018 school year which put it below the number of fatal school shootings we used to see. Throughout the 90s there were more than 10 fatal school shootings per school year with a peak of 35 in 1993/1994.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 22, 2018
Even one school shooting is too many, but as Gutowski points out, CNN’s count “includes shootings where neither the shooter nor the victims were students or faculty at the school. It includes accidental shootings. It even includes an incident where one student was bruised after being shot with a BB gun.”
https://twitter.com/EF517_V3/status/999030759917801472
Did they include the 6 year old with the pop tart?
— Phillip J Hubbell (@PJHubbell) May 22, 2018
Related:
SHAME ON YOU! CNN gets lit the eff UP for posting intentionally dishonest 'school shooting' map https://t.co/1X9D8VDVa2
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 18, 2018
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