re: What happened to mass shootings?

People seriously use Mass Shooting Tracker and Wikipedia for their info? There’s a world of difference between the following 3 events (all counted as mass shootings by the above):

Dude drives across Texas, walks into a shopping area and starts popping off customers.

A mom goes nuts and murder-suicides her husband, 4 kids and herself.

Gangbanger does a drive by and wounds 5 people.

What’s even more embarrassing for those that blindly believe those organizations is that the drive by would not be classified as a mass shooting according to many other outlets because they don’t count gang-related motive shootings (guess why). Further, the incident two years ago in which police were executing an arrest warrant and the suspect opened fire (suspect killed, accomplice and 3 cops wounded) did count as a mass shooting.

Seriously, look at these ridiculous “definitions” these groups use. They’re all over the place:

quote:

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Stanford MSA Data Project: 3+ shot in one incident, at one location, at roughly the same time, excluding organized crime, as well as gang-related and drug-related shootings.

Mass Shooting Tracker: 4+ shot in one incident, at one location, at roughly the same time.

Gun Violence Archive/Vox: 4+ shot in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at one location, at roughly the same time.

Mother Jones: 3+ shot and killed in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at a public place, excluding gang-related killings.

The Washington Post: 4+ shot and killed in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at a public place, excluding gang-related killings.

Congressional Research Service: 4+ shot and killed in one incident, excluding the perpetrator(s), at a public place, excluding gang-related killings, acts carried out that were inspired by criminal profit, and terrorism.

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The shite is all over the place. They make it up. If an incident results in 3 people shot instead of 4, it’s magically not a mass shooting according to some of them. Or, if that 4th person just happened to be the perp, then that doesn’t count in the body total. Wat? And others’ definition would allow someone to shoot and wound 100 people, but if less than 3 die, it’s not a mass shooting. All of these definitions scream “politically motivated definition”. The Muslim dude who shot up a military base a couple years ago? Nope. Not a mass shooting according to CRS

Sweet little setup they have and too many people lap that shite up. There’s a difference between 4 people getting shot and a mass shooting; it requires examination of the motive, situation and other pertinent information. That’d require honest assessment and we just can’t have that when we have rights to take away.