GunsAreCool/Reddit has apparently become the go-to source for mass shooting statistics, but is their information accurate?

Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Daily Show and WaPo have all cited the “mass shooting tracker” featured on Reddit’s GunsAreCool forum which says America has seen somewhere in the neighborhood of 353 mass shootings in 2015 alone.

Mere seconds of investigation into this “tracker” proves otherwise.

TheFederal Bureau of Investigationdefines a “mass shooting” as an event in which four or more individuals are killed as a result of a shooting. This excludes the shooter, which GunsAreCool includes in their “tracker”

Going by that definition, are Reddit’s statistics accurate?

Not by a long shot. Let’s take a look at the first seven “mass shootings” recorded by this “tracker.“

None of the first seven shootings qualify as “mass shootings.” Each shooting has a citation leading to a news story about the incident so everyone can confirm it’s not fabricated.

So how many of the 353 shootings listed actually meet the FBI’s definition of a “mass shooting?

22. Out of 353 proclaimed “mass shootings,” only 22 meet the FBI’s criteria of a “mass shooting.”

But let’s not stop there, let’s break down the stories by category. Some of the cases fit into more than one category.

Number Of Stories Where The Shooter’s Death/Injury Is Included In The Death/Injury Numbers: 45

Number Of Stories Where The Victims Were Killed By A Family Member/Relative: 23

Number Of Stories Where There Were No Deaths, Just Injuries: 146

Cases That Aren’t Considered Mass Shootings For Reasons Other Than Death Count (Reasons Given Below): 4

Case 9: Murders took place in several different locations with a moderate amount of time between each killing. Case 111: Police respond to a domestic violence call where they are attacked by a man. (Man did not use firearms in his attack.) Officers shot and killed him. Case 282: Police confront two men with outstanding warrants, who begin shooting at the officers. Officers shoot back and kill the men. Only two dead are the perpetrators, only two injured are the police. Case 336: Perpetrator only shot two victims, when the counter says 4. The other two deaths were linked to smoke inhalation after he lit the house on fire.

Number of Shootings That Took Place In A Social Setting (i.e., Party, Concert, Funeral): 114

Number of Shootings That Police Believe To Be Drug/Gang Related: 38

Number Of Drive-By Shootings: 32

Number Of Murder-Suicides: 23

There were several cases in which the facts in the story, and the numbers given on the tracker didn’t match up, such as case 337. The tracker says 5 dead, whereas the article says 5 injured.

This article is not an attempt to belittle the friends and family of the victims, or the victims themselves. The goal here was to prove that context matters, and that fear-mongering and lying about an issue will never help your cause.

Questions, comments, concerns or criticisms? Contact the author @Sierra_Marlee on Twitter or via email at [email protected]





