Media Myth Debunked. AR-15’s Are Not Used Frequently In Mass Shootings

Every day we are seeing headlines in the news from mainstream outlets referencing the AR- 15 as it relates to mass shootings. We are seeing endless headlines like this titled “How the AR-15 became the mass shooter’s weapon of choice.” But is this even true?

The answer is No. And the claim is not even close. What is more surprising is that it was a well known left-leaning media outlet that debunked this claim quite easily. Following the tragic events that occurred in Parkland Florida, Mother Jones quietly published an article with a spreadsheet that contained extensive research into the past 96 mass shootings since 1982. The research was in the form of a simple spreadsheet that included weapon type, age of shooter, gender, place of occurrence and several other information packed cells within the spreadsheet.

According to the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012, a mass shooting is defined today as an event where three or more people are either injured or killed by a firearm. As the information by Mother Jones outlines, semi-automatic rifles were only used in 25 of the previous 96 mass shootings. The AR-15 in particular, was only used in 6 of the past 96 mass shootings.

Surprised? I’m not.

The vast majority of mass shootings, including ones that made international headlines like Columbine or Virginia Tech, involved hand guns or shotguns. So much for the media driven stigma behind the AR-15 huh?

This myth is easily debunked through the empirical and historical data, yet the mainstream media still tends to spread this myth openly. Why? Well they figure the vast majority of people who read their yellow journalism won’t think to fact check them and just follow along like good little sheep.

Furthermore, many in the media and the political spectrum are calling for an all-out ban on what they call “assault weapons.” Democrat representatives like David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) even formal introduced a bill that would ban over 150 types of semi-automatic rifles. But would such a ban curb any of the mass shootings? Again the data obtained by Mother Jones, says no. Not just because AR-15’s and semi-automatic rifles are very rarely used in mass shootings, but more-so because there already was a ban on “assault rifles” from 1994 to 2004, and as we have seen in the Mother Jones research, 16 mass shootings still occurred during that time period including Columbine. Maybe theses so-called leaders should start focusing on the real reason these mass shootings are occurring and you fin find this in this link here.

Here’s to debunking every one of the media’s myths, one at a time!

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