A European friend approached me today, askingabout gunsin the US, saying, “There are so many guns in your country. It will take a long time to collect them all andget rid ofthem.” She was shocked when I responded, “Wedon’t want toget rid of them.”

After she got over her immediate horror and confusion, she asked, “But aren’t you afraid of school shootings?” I said that I was not, while also making it clear that I opposed them. “Most Americans are againstschool shootings,” I added.

Then she said, “I read that school shootings are the number one cause of death of children in the US.”

I responded, “I believe you believe you read that, but you didn’t. No one is actually making that claim. Mainstream media and anti-gun lobbies are playing with statistics to make you think that is what you read.”

This or similar statements about school shooting deaths are now repeated constantly, not only in personal conversations but also on television talk shows and in the talking points of the anti-gun lobby. The claim, of course, is complete nonsense.

On average, school shootings result in fewer than 40 deathsper year, and not all of the victims are children. There wasan uptickduring the Biden administration and after COVID, but from 2000 through roughly 2020, the average was closer tosix deathsper year.

And this is why no serious authority has actually made such an egregious claim. Rather, headlines are designed to make people believe that is what they read. The actual claim, according to CDC data, is that firearm injuries were the leadingcause of deathamong children and teens ages 1 to 19 in 2020 and 2021.

There was a tremendous increase in shootings during the COVID lockdowns; at the same time, fewer people were driving to school and work. Consequently, 2020 was thefirst yearguns killed more young people than cars.

The first problem with this data is that it is no longer true. It was true five years ago, but is still cited as if it were current. Second, ages 1 to 19 are an odd population to sample. Children are generally considered to be ages 0 to 17, while 18- and 19-year-olds are legally adults.

Furthermore, the firearm deaths include everything from suicide and homicide to accidents and gang violence, and the deaths are heavily skewed toward 18- and 19-year-olds. Teens ages18 and 19have a firearm mortality rate of 25.2 per 100,000. Children ages 1 to 17 have a rate of 3.7 per 100,000, nearly a 7-to-1 ratio.

Source: The Gateway Pundit