FBI Data Shows Number Of Mass Shootings 10-TIMES LOWER Than Media Reports :: 07/03/2021

Washington, DC – -(AmmoLand.com)- According to a recently released report from the FBI, there were far fewer mass shootings over the past four years than were reported by the Gun Violence Archive, a private nonprofit that provides the data cited most often by the mainstream media.

The FBI found that while active shootings are increasing, they are not nearly the threat the Gun Violence Archive and the media would have you believe.

Here’s a breakdown of the FBI’s data for “active” shootings over the past five years:

2016: 20
2017: 31
2018: 30
2019: 30
2020: 40

Here’s the number of “mass” shootings for the same timeframe from the Gun Violence Archive:

2016: 382
2017: 346
2018: 337
2019: 417
2020: No data posted

Wait What? Are you Kidding Me?

The difference lies in the definitions.

According to their new report titled: “Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2020,” the FBI defines active shootings as:

Shootings in public places
Shootings occurring at more than one location
Shootings where the shooter’s actions were not the result of another criminal act
Shootings resulting in a mass killing
Shootings indicating apparent spontaneity by the shooter
Shootings where the shooter appeared to methodically search for potential victims
Shootings that appeared focused on injury to people, not buildings or objects

Shootings were excluded from the FBI’s list if they were the result of:

Self-defense
Gang violence
Drug violence
Contained residential or domestic disputes
Controlled barricade/hostage situations
Crossfire as a byproduct of another ongoing criminal act
An action that appeared not to have put other people in peril

By comparison, the Gun Violence Archive, (www.gunviolencearchive.org) or GVA, excludes nothing, even if the shooting is gang or drug-related – the two main causes of most violence in the country today.

According to their website, the “GVA uses a purely statistical threshold to define mass shooting based ONLY on the numeric value of 4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter.”

“GVA does not parse the definition to remove any subcategory of shooting. To that end, we don’t exclude, set apart, caveat, or differentiate victims based upon the circumstances in which they were shot.

GVA believes that equal importance is given to the counting of those injured as well as killed in a mass shooting incident,” their website states.

While this practice may be fine for GVA’s statistical purposes, their definition is almost never cited or explained in news accounts of mass shootings, and the public is intentionally deceived.

Of the active shootings that occurred last year, the FBI found that “none of the total 40 incidents occurred in educational environments, health care facilities, or houses of worship.”

Twenty-four of the shooters were arrested. Six were killed. Seven committed suicide and five remain at large.
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About Lee Williams

Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.

https://www.ammoland.com/2021/07/fbi-data-number-mass-shootings-10-times-lower-than-media-reports/