Thursday, March 28, 2024
46.0°F

WISH: Just actual facts

| April 22, 2018 1:00 AM

A genie appeared and granted me a single wish: The media would publish facts with source data so I can examine the “facts” and determine the degree of relevance they have.

Everytown for Gun Safety reported that there have been 290 school shootings since the catastrophic massacre in Newtown, Conn., more than five years ago. However, very few of these were anything akin to Sandy Hook or Parkland. Sure, they all involved a school of some type (including technical schools and colleges) as well as a firearm, but the outcomes were hardly similar. Nearly half of the 290 were completed or attempted suicides, accidental discharges of a gun, or shootings with not a single individual being injured. Of the remainder, the vast majority involved either one fatality or none at all.

The likelihood of elementary and high school students of being in a school shooting is minuscule (98,000 public and 33,000 private schools, along with 7,000+ post secondary). Police chases ending near a school are often characterized as school shootings to further inflame the issue. Shooting principals and teachers by students is a significant percentage.

The article on the Union Gospel Mission in last Saturday’s Cd’A Press stated, “single motherhood is the new ‘norm’ ... one in four children are raised without a father ... 27.5 percent of single mothers are jobless the entire year and 40 percent lived in poverty.”

An African nation with too many problem bull elephants shipped them off to another nation. The young bulls began killing rhinoceros. The killing ceased with the return of the old bulls.

Societal acceptance of irresponsible reproduction and the disappearing father seem to be the proverbial elephant in the room.

ROBERT HUNT

Post Falls