Anyone seen this headline lately? “Guns are now the Leading Cause of Death for American Children”? We are being told that guns are now responsible for more deaths of “children”’ than automobile accidents  

The problem lies in the meaning of the word “children” and the source(s) of the data. Children are identified as those in the age bracket of either 1-19 or 1-24 depending upon the source. 

What they fail to mention is that the deaths may have been the result of drug or gang activity. One source of such misleading information is the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a nonprofit that has a penchant for sensational headlines. 

Unfortunately, the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, USA Today as well as a number of other media outlets use GVA’s broad definition of “mass shootings”. It includes both deaths and wounded, excepted for the shooter. The FBI, on the other hand, uses “mass murders” or “mass killings” which includes only deaths. 

Thus, the difference in data for a recent year whereby GVA listed over 400 mass “shootings” versus the FBI’s total of 30 using its much narrower definition.