Something a little odd has struck a lot of people about recent school shootings. On one hand, we’re told incessantly that these things are incredibly common; CNN is reporting that 20 weeks into 2018, there have been 22 school shootings. OK, fine, go with it. but when things are incredibly common, they’e *not* newsworthy. That’s kinda the whole point of news… to inform you of things that *aren’t* common. So how can school shootings be both common and worthy of nonstop news coverage? Simple: you define “school shooting” so broadly that it covers a vast array of very different events, which jacks up the numbers, but still allows you to tout the actually really rare actually newsworthy stories. Simple evil genius. So, about those “22 school shootings” CNN has been Goregasming over:
There has been, on average, 1 school shooting every week this year
Their criteria:
- A shooting that involved at least one person being shot (not including the shooter)
- A shooting that occurred on school grounds
- We included grades K through college/university level
- We included gang violence, fights and domestic violence
- We included accidental discharge of a firearm as long as the first two parameters are met
You can already tell that those goalposts have been moved *really* down the field.
Some of their examples to build up the numbers:
April 12: Raytown, Missouri
A man was shot in the stomach in the parking lot of Raytown South Middle School during a track meet.
April 9: Gloversville, New York
A student shot another student with a BB gun in Gloversville Middle School.
March 13: Seaside, California
A teacher accidentally discharged a gun during a public safety class at Seaside High School, injuring a student.
March 8: Mobile, Alabama
One person was hospitalized after a shooting at an apartment building on the campus of the University of South Alabama.
March 7: Birmingham, Alabama
One student was killed and another critically wounded after an accidental shooting during dismissal time at Huffman High School. Police wouldn’t elaborate further.
March 7: Jackson, Mississippi
A student was shot inside a dormitory at Jackson State University. His injuries were not life-threatening.
March 2: Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Two people were shot to death at a dormitory on the campus of Central Michigan University. The victims were not students and police think the incident stemmed from a domestic situation.
February 27: Norfolk, Virginia
A student at Norfolk State University was shot from an adjacent dorm room while he was doing homework. He was not seriously injured.
February 27: Itta Bena, Mississippi
A person was shot in a rec center at Mississippi Valley State University. Police said the person was not a student and the injury was not life-threatening.
February 24: Savannah, Georgia
A person was shot on the campus of Savannah State University and taken to a nearby hospital where he later died. Neither the victim nor the shooter were university students, the college said.
January 31: Philadelphia
A fight led to a shooting in the parking lot of Lincoln High School, fatally wounding a 32-year-old man.
January 20: Winston Salem, North Carolina
A Winston-Salem State University football player, Najee Ali Baker, was shot to death at a party on the campus of Wake Forest University.
As can be seen, a large proportion of the incidents are at universities or otherwise involving adults. One involves a friggen *BB* gun. A lot of them seem to be gang related.
*THIS* sort of thing is why people have lost trust in the media.
