Recently, there have been numerous news outlets reporting that there have been 22 school shootings so far in 2019. This statistic comes from a nonprofit organization called Everytown for Gun Safety. This is a great organization that I support wholeheartedly, however I believe their statistics are a little misleading.

For example, one of the ‘school shootings’ they list is the tragic suicide of a 16-year-old who shot himself in a school bathroom. I do not wish to minimize this tragedy whatsoever. It’s heartbreaking when any young person feels so despondent that they resort to taking their own life. However, calling it a school shooting may not be the most accurate classification.

Another example that Everytown lists is a shooting that happened at a Florida middle school. A student had brought a gun to school which accidentally discharged in a bathroom. The student and a bystander were both wounded. I’ve actually covered this story before and at the time I noted that it did not appear to be an intentional shooting.

Another example from the Everytown list is a shooting that happened at a school that had closed years earlier. The school’s campus was being used as a backdrop for a music video and someone was shot. It was not on school grounds during school hours by any stretch of the imagination.

The point I’m trying to make is that when we use inflated statistics it gives ammunition (pun intended) to those who are against any form of gun control to call us alarmists. We should stick to factual reporting and leave the spin to those who are against common sense gun reform. When it comes to school shootings, the real statistics are scary enough without any embellishment.