Bloomberg anti-gun group fakes Wisconsin ‘school shootings’
http://eagnews.org/bloomberg-anti-gun-group-f...shootings/
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, a group created by anti-gun advocate and billionaire Michael Bloomberg to push his anti-gun political agenda, has attempted to highlight a rash of school shootings that have taken place since the 2012 Newton, Connecticut elementary school massacre.
Unfortunately for anti-gun zealots looking for a cheap political point, the rarity of actual school shootings like Newton has led the group to create a list of 94 “school shootings” that often have very little to do with schools, children or actual shootings.
Last week, conservative website Breitbart.com broke the news that the national list of so-called “school shootings” was far from accurate. According to Breitbart, at least one shooting took place on a house boat in Maryland and another couldn’t even be confirmed by officials at Tennessee State University. One of the “shootings” on the list was even considered funny by a local media report. Breitbart notes:
In one of the most egregious stretching-of-facts scenarios to date, Everytown claims an Idaho State University instructor who accidentally shot himself in the foot with his concealed carry firearm is an example of another “school shooting.”
The Idaho State Journal thought the incident was funny, and the school president said he felt sorry for the instructor, who was probably “embarrassed.”
“We should feel secure in sending our children to school — comforted by the knowledge that they’re safe,” the anti-gun group claims in the preamble to their list. But a Media Trackers review of Wisconsin “school shootings” that made the group’s list shows the group didn’t list a single incident of someone being injured inside a school, only had one incident that involved a child, and didn’t list a single “shooting” that occurred during a time when anything close to educational instruction was occurring.
Wisconsin’s Three “School Shootings” Since Newtown according to Everytown:
* March 8, 2014 (University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh): This is the only Wisconsin “school shooting” on the anti-gun group’s list that actually took place in any type of a school building. According to media reports, a single shot was fired into the air of the University’s Memorial Union building during a Saturday night student dance – nobody was hit. Hardly a “shooting,” but nevertheless it actually took place inside a building associated with education. It appears no one was ever charged in this “shooting” of a ceiling tile.
* May 2, 2014 (Marquette University): According to media reports, this shooting took place outside a parking structure around 2:30am. One student was shot in the hand after a struggle following an attempted robbery. The 19 year-old student was taken to the hospital and released. While Media Trackers has not confirmed schedule information with the University, it’s highly unlikely any “schooling” was going on at 2:30am. The person eventually charged with the shooting illegally possessed the firearm, a felony in and of itself in Wisconsin.
* May 21, 2014 (Sierra Guyton): As was widely reported in Wisconsin media, 10-year-old Sierra Guyton was struck in the head by a stray bullet while on the playground of Milwaukee’s Clarke Street School at about 7:00pm. The stray bullet came from a fury of gun fire originating from an argument between several men that escalated into a gun battle. But contrary to the anti-gun group’s characterization that this is somehow akin to the Newtown shooting, no child or school was the target of the shooting, nor did it take place during school hours. Both those charged in the fatal shooting were illegally possessing firearms.
The problem, besides an overzealous disagreement with the 2nd Amendment, for the anti-gun group seems to be their methodology. According to their website, shooting incidents used were “documented by the press or confirmed through further inquiries with law enforcement” – not both – and an incident was considered a “school shooting” if it occurred “inside a school building or on school or campus grounds.” A “shooting” was simply the discharge of a firearm according to the lists methodology, and had nothing to do with whether someone was injured or the discharge was intentional.
Factcheck.org noted the group – when their list sat at 74 “school shootings” in June of this year – “uses a broad definition that more than doubles the number of school shootings.” PolitiFact also gave the groups list a “mostly false” in June.
In fact, according to the liberal Washington Post, gun violence is actually on the decline and school shootings are statistically rare, noting that “children are almost 100 times more likely to be murdered outside of school than at school.” Of course, reality has not stopped the Bloomberg anti-gun group from using fear mongering to advance their political agenda.
http://eagnews.org/bloomberg-anti-gun-group-f...shootings/
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, a group created by anti-gun advocate and billionaire Michael Bloomberg to push his anti-gun political agenda, has attempted to highlight a rash of school shootings that have taken place since the 2012 Newton, Connecticut elementary school massacre.
Unfortunately for anti-gun zealots looking for a cheap political point, the rarity of actual school shootings like Newton has led the group to create a list of 94 “school shootings” that often have very little to do with schools, children or actual shootings.
Last week, conservative website Breitbart.com broke the news that the national list of so-called “school shootings” was far from accurate. According to Breitbart, at least one shooting took place on a house boat in Maryland and another couldn’t even be confirmed by officials at Tennessee State University. One of the “shootings” on the list was even considered funny by a local media report. Breitbart notes:
In one of the most egregious stretching-of-facts scenarios to date, Everytown claims an Idaho State University instructor who accidentally shot himself in the foot with his concealed carry firearm is an example of another “school shooting.”
The Idaho State Journal thought the incident was funny, and the school president said he felt sorry for the instructor, who was probably “embarrassed.”
“We should feel secure in sending our children to school — comforted by the knowledge that they’re safe,” the anti-gun group claims in the preamble to their list. But a Media Trackers review of Wisconsin “school shootings” that made the group’s list shows the group didn’t list a single incident of someone being injured inside a school, only had one incident that involved a child, and didn’t list a single “shooting” that occurred during a time when anything close to educational instruction was occurring.
Wisconsin’s Three “School Shootings” Since Newtown according to Everytown:
* March 8, 2014 (University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh): This is the only Wisconsin “school shooting” on the anti-gun group’s list that actually took place in any type of a school building. According to media reports, a single shot was fired into the air of the University’s Memorial Union building during a Saturday night student dance – nobody was hit. Hardly a “shooting,” but nevertheless it actually took place inside a building associated with education. It appears no one was ever charged in this “shooting” of a ceiling tile.
* May 2, 2014 (Marquette University): According to media reports, this shooting took place outside a parking structure around 2:30am. One student was shot in the hand after a struggle following an attempted robbery. The 19 year-old student was taken to the hospital and released. While Media Trackers has not confirmed schedule information with the University, it’s highly unlikely any “schooling” was going on at 2:30am. The person eventually charged with the shooting illegally possessed the firearm, a felony in and of itself in Wisconsin.
* May 21, 2014 (Sierra Guyton): As was widely reported in Wisconsin media, 10-year-old Sierra Guyton was struck in the head by a stray bullet while on the playground of Milwaukee’s Clarke Street School at about 7:00pm. The stray bullet came from a fury of gun fire originating from an argument between several men that escalated into a gun battle. But contrary to the anti-gun group’s characterization that this is somehow akin to the Newtown shooting, no child or school was the target of the shooting, nor did it take place during school hours. Both those charged in the fatal shooting were illegally possessing firearms.
The problem, besides an overzealous disagreement with the 2nd Amendment, for the anti-gun group seems to be their methodology. According to their website, shooting incidents used were “documented by the press or confirmed through further inquiries with law enforcement” – not both – and an incident was considered a “school shooting” if it occurred “inside a school building or on school or campus grounds.” A “shooting” was simply the discharge of a firearm according to the lists methodology, and had nothing to do with whether someone was injured or the discharge was intentional.
Factcheck.org noted the group – when their list sat at 74 “school shootings” in June of this year – “uses a broad definition that more than doubles the number of school shootings.” PolitiFact also gave the groups list a “mostly false” in June.
In fact, according to the liberal Washington Post, gun violence is actually on the decline and school shootings are statistically rare, noting that “children are almost 100 times more likely to be murdered outside of school than at school.” Of course, reality has not stopped the Bloomberg anti-gun group from using fear mongering to advance their political agenda.
