It’s time to guess how many of Everytown Dances In the Blood’s “school shootings” are anything resembling actual school shootings.
- Eastern Technical High School: School Resource Officer shot himself in a basement office
Huh; actual suicide-by-cop. - University of Akron: Underage non-student accidently shot non-student in a dorm
Technically the dorm is part of the school. - Voorhees College: Someone shot two people at a block party on a Friday night
Nope. I’m simply not going to count a weekend block party open to the public as a school. - Garrett Middle School: Two underage students brought a gun to school and accidentally fired it in a backpack
- Crums Lane Elementary School: Two guys in their 20s walking by the school on a Sunday night, shot in a drive-by
Happened to get shot in front of the school. Not. - Butler High: A real one; underage student shot another student
Maybe we should pass laws against minors bringing guns to school. - Dunbar Elementary School: Shot fired near school, wild bullet hit window; school wasn’t open
A stray round from somewhere else that hit a building where classes weren’t in session? Well, it meets Everytown‘s weird definition. Not. - University of Utah: College student killed by ex-boyfriend in campus parking lot
All that had to do with the “school” is that he knew where to look for her. - University of Maryland: Shots fired on the street, apparently no one hit, doesn’t seem to involve students
Apparent mugging attempt while walking down the street. - McGavock High School: Sunday night shooting in the parking lot (sounds like a drug buy gone wrong); no students involved
By Everytown’s definition, all of these do count as school shootings. But half of them were essentially after hours street shootings involving non-students. Some on public streets that happen to be within a college campus radius. Another one was only a “school shooting” because a stray round — not intended for the school — hit a window after hours; I won’t count that, intent matters. So that’s 60% of Everytown’s “school shootings” that aren’t.
So they score a measly 40% this time.
In February, 2018, they scored 71%.
In August, 2018, they scored a possible 50%.
Now they’re down to 40%, as they scrape and dig desperately for scary numbers to drive their victim disarmament agenda.
A centralized listing of real school shootings — as normal, sane, unbiased people would understand the term — would be useful. Everytown can’t and won’t do that. Because adult thugs shooting each other on the weekend don’t scare parents and students as much as often-imaginary shootings in school.
But if Everytown decides they can and will provide decent data, they could use this definition:
A shooting which directly involves students, staff, or visitors to the school (not just someone on the property) on school property; at a school-sponsored event on school property; or where the school, students, or staff were intended targets on school property. After-hours incidents unrelated to the school other than location will not be included. Separate lists for high/middle/elementary schools and colleges/universities generally staffed and attended by adults will be maintained, to make more clear the threats to minors.
They could, but they won’t.
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Someone there excels at “spin” and has a vivid imagination and creative writing skills. Morals and ethics? Meh, not so much.