The real story behind the 74 school shootings

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    While casually watching the 6 o’clock news one night, a figure came on the screen that caught my attention. According to the announcer, there have been 74 “school shootings” in the USA since the Sandy Hook tragedy in December 2012.

    The figure showed up in subsequent newscasts and in print a few days later. Even President Obama cited the figure during an interview.
    Like most media mutts, however, I’m skeptical of most figures whether it’s a crime statistic or a school budget.
    After some digging into the origin of the figures on the Politifact website, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are several things wrong with the study.
    The Everytown for Gun Safety report did cite the date and location of each incident with a brief summary of the outcome. But the organization’s definition of a school shooting is quite a stretch.
    I don’t know about you, but when I hear about a school shooting, I immediately visualize a madman forcibly entering a building and terrorizing the students and faculty, or a student going berserk with a firearm.
    These types of occurrences happened only 10 times, according to the Politifact analysis.
    Another 39 gun-related incidents on school campuses were due to criminal activity, such as drug dealing or robbery.
    In other cases, gun-related acts — including suicides — took place on school grounds overnight when students were home. And almost half of the 74 events happened at a college or university, not an elementary or high school.
    Don’t get me wrong. Gun violence is a serious problem in this country.
    I’m not a “gun nut” but I do own firearms. They’re also very secure in my home. I’m more worried about some drunk running me off the highway than being mowed down by a domestic terrorist with an AR-15.
    We’re fortunate to live in a rural state where gun ownership is high, but crime is low. I can only think of a few incidents involving firearms in schools in recent years, including one related to a dispute over child custody.
    The problem with discussing firearm ownership and 2nd Amendment rights is that there seems to be no middle ground between the two sides. They don’t talk — they scream at each other.
    New laws have been passed that are supposed to keep weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. They don’t always work. But any efforts to fine-tune firearms regulations are met with a vicious backlash.
    Both sides clearly need to talk. We can’t turn our schools into minimum-security prisons but we can’t ignore the fact that there are dangerous people on the loose, even in states considered safe and crime free.
    But we also don’t need misleading studies that appear to make the problem worse than it actually is.
    Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.