CNN‘s Jim Acosta is at it again. The White House correspondent spread fake news about gun control to his nearly 500,000 Twitter followers on Thursday.
“Since Sandy Hook there have been at least 1,552 mass shootings, with at least 1,767 people killed and 6,227 wounded,” tweeted Acosta.
Since Sandy Hook there have been at least 1,552 mass shootings, with at least 1,767 people killed and 6,227 wounded. https://t.co/RZeFDHhYmR
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) December 14, 2017
Tweeting an article from Vox to make his point, the statistics cited are far from accurate.
Daily Caller‘s Amber Athey pointed out:
In order to commemorate the anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting, Acosta linked to a Vox article that claims there have been 1,552 mass shootings since then. […]
The Vox article is probably more useful for narrative-building than accuracy, because it gathers its data from the “Gun Violence Archive,” which uses one of the broadest definitions for mass shootings. The Gun Violence Archive counts any shooting with four or more people shot and injured or killed as a “mass shooting.”
“GVA uses a purely statistical threshold to define mass shooting based ONLY on the numeric value of 4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter,” says Gun Violence Archive.
“GVA does not parse the definition to remove any subcategory of shooting. To that end we don’t exclude, set apart, caveat, or differentiate victims based upon the circumstances in which they were shot.”
Athey added:
By using this definition, GVA lumps shootings that don’t square with most people’s understanding of what a mass shooting is, such as domestic, gang, and drug-related shootings. For example, GVA would include a gang shootout as a mass shooting, even though not all of the injuries or deaths were inflicted by a single shooter. They would also include a home invasion, even though common understanding is that mass shootings take place in public.
Acosta was widely mocked for his tweet, as per usual.
“This is a lie. If a politician said this, Jim Acosta would interrupt the press conference to live-fact-check him with readily available FBI statistics,” pointed out National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke.
https://twitter.com/charlescwcooke/status/941315287860826112
Writer Jeryl Bier pointed out “Under those terms, mass shootings don’t appear to be increasing.” and “it’s worth noting that mass shootings make up a tiny portion of America’s firearm deaths.”
From the article: "Under those terms, mass shootings don’t appear to be increasing." and "it’s worth noting that mass shootings make up a tiny portion of America’s firearm deaths." pic.twitter.com/SXDrzloiNf
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/maddie1776/status/941330358485880833
https://twitter.com/eddiecarl4468/status/941325043333820416
https://twitter.com/MichaelCoughlin/status/941324135678054400
— Super Journalist (Ret) – JOURN-L of Skrypton (@Magnum_CK) December 14, 2017
This is a lie, FakeNewsboy.
— JWF (@JammieWF) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/TheManchize/status/941325376969637888
https://twitter.com/pederanderson1/status/941310472938237952
You seem to be getting quite comfortable with the fake news moniker but hey, never let the facts get in the way of the agenda.
— Christy Waters (@ThatChristyChic) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/JeffOutLoud/status/941372678065344514
https://twitter.com/boogiefinger/status/941389692557283329
vox? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 you have no credibility
— Heidi 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@reshas) December 14, 2017
Wrong. Just wrong. Hence, why they call what you do fake news.
— Todd Mirkin 1/1024% back! (@TMirkin) December 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/whroper/status/941357793034072064
https://twitter.com/richbro22/status/941350004882632704
https://twitter.com/RobertClaypool6/status/941338489454583808
https://twitter.com/dlaponti711/status/941319572380094466
https://twitter.com/Polnews2020/status/941325680633147392
