With the killing of 58 and the wounding of hundreds in Las Vegas last weekend, Americans are once again debating gun violence. Adding to the passion and the entrenched political and economic interests that make this conversation so intense are a number of myths — about how much violence there is, what causes it and how to prevent it. Here are some of the most stubborn ones.
Here are seven key findings about Americans’ experiences with and attitudes toward guns, drawn from recent Pew Research Center surveys and other data sources.
A majority of American teens say they are very or somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their school – and most parents of teens share that concern, according to new Pew Research Center surveys of teens ages 13 to 17 and parents with children in the same age range.
The gunman in Virginia Beach had large capacity magazines with him during Friday's shooting. Gun control groups would like to restrict those accessories, saying they're too useful for mass shooters.
While widely recognized today as a major political force and as America's foremost defender of Second Amendment rights, the NRA has, since its inception, been the premier firearms education organization in the world. - From the NRA website
Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online.
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.
This organization checks the factual accuracy of what is said by major U>S> political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
PolitiFact staffers research statements and rate their accuracy on the Truth-O-Meter, from True to False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get the lowest rating, Pants on Fire.
Unlike regular news services, AllSides exposes bias and provides multiple angles on the same story so you can quickly get the full picture, not just one slant.
The most comprehensive media bias resource on the internet. There are currently 900+ media sources listed in the database and growing every day. Don’t be fooled by Fake News sources.
The Center for Gun Policy and Research is engaged in a broad range of activities, including original scholarly research, policy analysis, and agenda-setting public discourse.
ATF Statistics - Current Information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives