No, There Haven't Been 18 School Shootings This Year — Not Even Close

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 2/15/2018 | Staff

[IBD editorial writer]

The latest mass shooting, which claimed 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, was a horrible tragedy. But that's no excuse for the flurry of stories parroting a gun control advocacy group's false claims about school shootings.

In the immediate wake of the shooting, headlines starting appearing at major news sites:

"There have already been 18 school shootings in the US this year" — ABC News "18 school shootings in 45 days — Florida massacre is one of many tragedies in 2018"—CNBC "18 school shootings in US in 2018"— AFP "U.S. averages a school shooting every 2.5 days in 2018" — Politico "We're Averaging One School Shooting Every 60 Hours In 2018" — Huffington Post

When not in the headline, this claim shows up in just about every story about the Florida shooting.

So, it must be true, right? Why else would every news outlet be reporting this?

It's not true.

That number comes from a gun control advocacy group — Everytown for Gun Safety — which arrived at 18 only by shoving everything it possibly could into the category of "school shooting."

[Trillian]

The media lies.. Constantly. That you can be sure of.

[yoe]

NBC was by innuendo, blaming President Trump's lack of the knee-jerk syndrome for being less caring....as part of the problem.

Shame on Fox News for not letting the dust settle before making comments that as it turned out were untrue.

[digger48]

Shame on Fox News for not letting the dust settle before making comments that as it turned out were untrue.

I quit FOX during Katrina because they let Mascara Boy keep repeating ridiculously obvious bullsh*t

[Robert A Cook PE]

Bookmarked, thank you for the refuting evidence and actual facts.

[tomkat]

Yes, we do seem to be voices in the wilderness much too often  :-\

[MileHi]

So you are not to be taken seriously. Check

[Inyo-Mono]

Thanks for posting.

[SunkenCiv]

18 in 2018 would work out to one every two days I think, given that there are already three holidays in there, and we’re not yet through February.

[mac_truck]

Facts don’t care about your feelings, dummy.

[hawkaw]

I get so frustrated when the media doesn’t do it’s homework. I am impressed this news outlet did. And the media wonders why we don’t watch anymore.

[MileHi]

Facts do care that you’re a moron and don’t get what a “school shooting” is.

[piasa]

The other fake news some politician put out as that mass shootings only occur in the US...

As if Brevik in Norway doesn’t count, the shootings and abductions of Nigerian schoolkids didn’t happen at Boco Haraam’s hands, and Beslan didn’t happen.

If they used the same standards they used to come up with the 18 figure for the US then the rest of the world is swimming in school shootings....many a bullet’s whizzed by schools in the ME alone, and who keeps count in Kashmir...

[mac_truck]

Unintentional or not (and that’s debatable), one student was critically shot in the head and another in the wrist by a semi-auto handgun while sitting in their classroom.

Meets the criteria of a school shooting whether some horse turd in CO likes it or not.