Stanford University MSA Data Project identifies a mass shooting when three or more persons are shot at one location, at the same time, excluding the shooter. Organized crime, gangs and drug war shootings are also excluded as mass shootings.
The narrative that mass shootings are out of control and increasing every year is media hype. This narrative is not only wrong, it's dangerous. People don't fear good people with a gun they fear bad people with a gun. If we take guns away from good people, then the only people with guns will be bad people... Right?
Think about the most powerful weapon in history. The nuclear bomb which can kill millions in a flash. And yet, American's don't fear Great Britain, France or Israel who all possess nukes? Why? They are the good guys.
Some in America want only the government to have guns which would no doubt massively reduce gun violence! The problem with that is history and what eventually happens given enough time.
People have been killing people since the first caveman clubbed his neighbor to death. During the 20th Century the ability to kill increased exponentially and tragically more than 100 million people were murdered at the hands of "their" government. Mao, Stalin and Hitler win the gold, silver and bronze.
The founding fathers knew that a well regulated Militia was necessary to the security of a free state. One could reasonably argue that gun ownership is essential to our Democracy aka Constitutional Republic.
So what about the widely quoted 250+ mass shootings so far this year? Well that's just BS being pushed by every Democrat, some Republicans and most of the media. Simply put it's NOT true.
"22 weeks into the year, America has already seen at least 246 mass shootings" Insider
"233 mass shootings have happened so far in 2022" The Hill
"US has seen more than 200 mass shootings in 2022" News Nation
"From Uvalde to Buffalo and now Maryland, there's been 254 mass shootings in 2022" Herald Mail
These headlines are just a sample from the last 30 days. It's just media bull and if you're willing to spend 15 minutes looking at the data you can figure this out for yourself. Typically Wikipedia sucks when it comes to anything political but in this case they nail it. If you apply the FBI's or Stanford Universities definition of a mass shooting to all shootings listed for 2022 there have been 10 "mass shootings" not 250.
In some cases seemingly one death would qualify as a mass shooting. In the past the data required multiple deaths. So why the change? That's easy, the Left wants ONLY the government to have guns and if a few bad guys also have them and use them on the unarmed then that's just the price we all pay to reduce mass shootings in America. It seems the illusion of safety, the gun free school zones, etc... are what the left craves when reality is screaming just the opposite!
Actually even these mass shooting numbers are inflated. Mother Jones adds a very important qualifier to their calculations. To be counted as a mass shooting it must be in a public place and indiscriminate. Now you're getting at the real number which in 2021 totalled six mass shootings that resulted in 43 deaths. Compare that to millions of potential (I would say inevitable given enough time) deaths if you disarm America and I'm a little less sad about the loss of life. It's tragic but it always makes me wonder why the 16,000+ gun related homicides each year hardly receive any national coverage. Don't those victims have families?
Note: I'm absolutely OK with raising the age to possess any "Semi-Automatic" weapon to 21 or even 25 IF underage possession would automatically be charged as a felony and a minimum of one year in prison. You're underage and get caught with a semi-automatic weapon you're going to prison for a year. Run public service ads, prosecute these kids and maintain a website with the picture of every young person arrested, when, where and how and I can only conclude gun crime will plummet in the inner-city.
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Afterthought: Sometimes I randomly stumble onto something that makes me ponder. Did Ben Franklin yell out: "A Democracy, if you can keep it."? No he did not but the Left knows words have power which is why their "Narrative" is "Democracy" versus "Republic". I wish the Democrats and the media would remember that America is a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC which is very different than a democracy.
