The Problem With CNN's School Shooting Count

Nearly half of incidents identified this year are unlikely to be recognized by most as school shootings

CNN has been promoting its latest count of school shootings in the aftermath of Friday's tragedy in Santa Fe, Texas. But most of the included incidents bear no resemblance to that attack. While the news organization has not released details behind the incidents included in its report that 288 school shootings have occurred in the United States since 2009, it has detailed its count of 22 for this year. Their standard includes any incident where anyone was injured in any way anywhere on school grounds for any school from kindergarten to college.

It is similar to the standard created by gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, which many media outlets have repeated. The main difference appears to be that CNN only counts incidents that result in some sort of injury to somebody other than the person who pulled the trigger.

It includes shootings where neither the shooter nor the victims were students or faculty at the school. It includes accidental shootings. It even includes an incident where one student wasbruised after being shot with a BB gun.

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