Why do I do this? I just checked the ten latest entries in Everytown’s list of “school” shootings. It isn’t as if I don’t know by now what I’ll find.

Spoiler: Right off the top, 40% were not school shootings at all. Let’s look at the details.

• 12/2/2019 Waukesha South High School
  Police shooting, legal intervention.
• 11/29/2019 Illinois Institute of Technology
  A man was shot and killed Friday near the Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Bronzeville on the South Side.
• 11/26/2019 Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School
  Vancouver Public Schools spokesperson Pat Nuzzo said the “targeted” shooting took place in the school parking lot at 3:15 p.m., but did not involve students or staff.
• 11/23/2019 Searles Elementary School
  The shootings of the boys, ages 11 and 14, took place in the parking lot of Searles Elementary School, CBS San Francisco reported. Callers to 911 reported hearing gunfire at around 1:30 a.m., the station said.
• 11/23/2019 Florida Memorial University
  Open party on campus, 10:15PM. Unidentified; unknown if students or staff, or just visiting partiers. Given the area, I imagine it was gang-related.
• 11/23/2019 Southern University at New Orleans
  A spokesperson with SUNO stated that the victim is not a student or employee of the university and that the university rents out the building to non-affiliates of the university.
• 11/23/2019 University of Louisville
  Three people were injured in a shooting Wednesday night near the University of Louisville, according to police.”
• 11/15/2019 Pleasantville High School
  A shooting took place on the football field at Pleasantville High School in New Jersey on November 15.
• 11/14/2019 Saugus High School
  A girl and a boy were killed and three of their classmates wounded when a fellow student opened fire on his birthday at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita Thursday morning, authorities said.
• 11/11/2019 Achievement Academy
  A 19-year-old male student was shot Monday afternoon outside Achievement Academy in northeast Baltimore.” Targeted attack on public street in front of school.

Four of ten were not on school grounds: 40% not school shootings, even by Everytown’s expansive definition.

One was a police officer stopping a crime. On campus, but not what most folks would think of as a school shooting.

Two more happened in school parking lots after hours, and did not involve students or staff. On campus, but not what most folks would think of as a school shooting.

One was an after-hours open party on a university campus. Victims not yet identified. Maybe, maybe not, but not what folks think of as a school shooting.

That leaves two shootings on high school campuses, involving students, and at school-related events.

You may recall that I object to Everytown inflating their count by including colleges and universities, when most folks think they’re talking about elementary and high schools. 40% of these are such (including three that weren’t actually on school grounds). I didn’t take the time to fact check the next ten entries, but seven of that ten are college/university, too. That’s 55%.

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited, and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]