Page 30 - Chow Life - 2025 01 Spring

internet technology. With these tools, their goal Town had included "any discharge of a firearm at
was to influence legislation - not dog legislation, a school, whether students were involved or not"
but gun legislation. Their effort began in early to be a shooting. This meant that a wide variety of
February, 2018. Their story had been widely incidents would be counted as a "shooting". Every
circulated by the print and social media and Towns' criteria was so broad that nobody had to be
carried by many TV channels. It was crafted to injured and that a "shooting doesn’t actually have
influence the public about guns and who should to take place on campus but the bullet has to be
be allowed to own them. It began with a national somewhere on campus".
headline that read “18 school shootings already
in 2018”. When David Mastio, deputy editor Mastio unmasked the fake news and those who
for USA TODAY first read the story he was not were willing to distribute it. He began with a
convinced that in less than 60 days, “18 shootings” review of the definition of a “shooting” used by
had already occurred at schools throughout Every Town and then the incidents they counted as
America. His research uncovered some disturbing a shooting. Here are just three of the 18 incidents
facts which had been omitted by the reported by Every Town that were used by the
print and social media and the TV Washington Post, CBS, and The (New
networks all of whom quickly York) Daily News.
ran with the story. In his USA “ Example #1. In this case,
TODAY article, Mastio Every Town reported that
uncovered the truth HSUS is known on Jan 3, the Lansing
about the reported (Michigan) State Journal
school shootings. He to rely on the reported that a 31-year
found that it was the use of social and old “military veteran
Washington Post, CBS, who suffered from
and The (New York) print media and TV Post-traumatic stress
Daily News who all disorder shot himself
reported that 18 school to reach a large in a school parking lot
shootings had already audience of willing after he called the police
occurred in January and and reported he was
February of 2018. Mastio patrons suicidal.
questioned whether that
many school shootings could “ Example #2. On Jan. 10,
have already occurred in such there was a shooting, reported
a short period. He was right. The by the Desert Sun... "a gun was
media failed to check their definitions, fired from off campus and a bullet
instead they relied on fake news and then made struck the Visual Arts Building" at California
a rush to judgement. They showed no interest in State University – San Bernardino. Using Every
learning about the truth because it did not serve Towns criterion, it counted as a shooting, no
their intended purpose. Using a sensational story one was injured.
line and material that included the 19-year old
who slaughtered 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Example, #3. On Feb. 5, a shooting was
High School in Parkland, Florida, they successfully reported in Maplewood, Minn. This incident
launched their fake news story. Mastio was not involved a third-grader who by accident pulled
impressed, he continued to gather the facts the trigger on a police officer's gun while he
and learned that the media had relied on some was sitting on a bench. No one was injured but
carefully crafted information that had been created it was counted as one of the "18 shootings in
and released by an organization called Every Town 2018".
for Gun Safety, a known gun-control advocacy By successfully distorting the facts using
group responsible for spreading bogus statistics. questionable criteria and a misleading definition
What the media failed to report was that Every that would not be noticed by the average reader,

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