Those who support the mainstream media’s position on issues such as guns like to talk about how the press is important to an informed citizenry. And they’re right: people need to have information about issues, including what is really going on, so that they can make informed decisions and take informed positions on those issues.
The problem is that the mainstream media is appallingly bad at informing people of the truth.
Here is just one example: the mainstream media likes to say that gun violence in the form of mass shootings are the principle cause of gun deaths in the United States. The problem is that this idea simply isn’t true. Heath Druzin writes,
Mass shootings may grab the headlines, but suicides are by far the leading category of gun death in America. However, most Americans don’t know this, according to a new national poll from APM Research Lab, Call To Mind and Guns & America.
Experts say this misperception is handcuffing suicide prevention efforts.
The poll asked more than 1,000 Americans what they think the leading cause of gun deaths is.
Thirty-three percent of respondents chose homicides outside of mass shootings, while 25% thought that mass shootings caused the most gun deaths. Only 23% correctly guessed that suicides are the leading cause. The remaining respondents chose accidental shootings or said they didn’t know.
Jennifer Stuber, a professor of social work at University of Washington and founder of Forefront Suicide Prevention, said the findings are unsurprising given the intense media coverage of events like mass shootings.
“What I think drives it is the way in which we cover the issues of firearms fatalities in the news and popular culture, whether that’s TV, movies, etc.,” she said.
In reality, fully 60% of gun deaths in the U.S. every year are suicides.
Horrific as they are, mass shootings represent a tiny fraction of gun deaths in America. They account for a few hundred deaths every year, as compared to an average of roughly 19,000 gun suicide deaths. There were 23,854 suicides by firearm in 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of course, you’re unlikely to hear this truth (that suicides are the leading cause of gun death) from the media. It just isn’t sensational enough.
And, so, we hear from the mainstream media that the press is important so that people can be informed, but they aren’t keeping up their side of that bargain.
Pro-gun people know that the mainstream media isn’t going to tell the truth about guns, and that is why this website exists. Anti-gunners know this, too, and that is why they hate truth-telling websites like this and try to call us fake news. Now, if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.
The greatest threat facing the USA today is the nearly total lack of truthful reporting of the news. The media today is someone’s bull horn to further the agenda that they have defined or has been defined for them.. Their companion ? Modern Public Education.. Loads of proponents of socialism and communism have filled the ranks of professors in out colleges and universities cranking out legions of indoctrinated morons each year..
Suicides are alarming in some states. I live in one of them. Otherwise, not many mass shootings occur here in Idaho.
Suicides are a serious cause of killings in Idaho. Firearms need to be kept away from kids, not only for suicides but school shootings. Otherwise, mass shootings are few. Idaho has a large number of concelaed carry people and law enforcement that we have few such mass shootings.
Good point, but….I have seen several anti gun types use your stats and state this again proves why red flag laws, background checks and longer waiting periods would cut down on suicides. Of course they then note that these measures and gun confiscation are really needed to stop suicides.
Not trying to rain on your parade but sometimes facts can be turned to bite us in a tender place.
Thanks for your good work.
Jerry
Jerry, we live in a nation that allows viable human babies to be murdered in the womb and in some states, outside the womb. Some states even assist suicide, so why should we take away everyone’s right to own firearms? I do not care if you want to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger… it makes a helluva mess, but no one will insist that you clean it up. I believe in personal liberty, which means an individual should be free to do as he/she chooses, as long as they do no harm to anyone else, or anyone else’s property. I believe a baby in the womb qualifies, as anyone else. Doctor errors harm more civilians, than guns every year. What about auto, motorcycle accidents and swimming pools. Where do we stop taking away peoples liberties, to assuage other peoples fears. Our Constitution assures our rights and allows for laws to hold us accountable for our actions. It doesn’t allow punishing anybody, for what somebody might do. What part of “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” is so confusing?
Speaking of gun deaths whether SUICIDE or HOMICIDE 2 things are common , a gun and a person , and the gun can’t do anything by itself …
So, “Progressives” are all for assisted suicide, but not do-it-yourself suicide. Do I have that right?
My truck ran over a person who Jay walked in front of my truck.trucks are bad so so bad let’s ban trucks they hurt people bad truck bad bad truck use a volt car in it’s place you don’t need a truck to haul your work tools and equipment.ban trucks vote for Dem.realy
FredK….I have been trained, used, and fired many guns while I was in the armee. And none of those weapons ever loaded itself or pulled the trigger. It ws always done by a human.
LMAO! “armee”.
We are free people because, we have are guns. The people in RUSSIA are not free, and they do not have guns.
Well, I wish that I could agree with you, Rollo… but we are not free! We are in fact Serfs, to the Federal Reserve and IRS. The taxes collected from wages, barely pays the interest on the National Debt. Surprise! The Fed. is not any more federal, than Federal Express. It is a private, for profit corporation owned by a cartel of international banksters, that control our nation’s currency supply. They have us and just about every other industrialized nation, by the short hairs, ever since 1913, when Progressive President Woodrow Wilson, signed the Federal Reserve Act and later, year gave them the IRS collection agency. There has been and continues to this day, much dispute surrounding the legitimacy of the passing and ratification of the 16th Amendment. Check it out!
Who the hell is “Heath Druzin”? What’s his source?
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