CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and even the Washington Post now rely solely on mass-shooting data from the Gun Violence Archive – an anti-gun nonprofit we debunked years ago. The reason is simple. The GVA inflates body counts, so its overblown numbers have become the data set of choice for the legacy media, which is constantly seeking more sensational headlines and news stories.

How does the GVA get its inflated numbers? They created their own definition of a mass shooting, of course. When most Americans hear the term, they picture a madman stalking the halls of a school or a shopping mall, coldly murdering innocent victims. What does not come to mind are rival drug crews shooting it out in Chicago, a deranged husband murdering his entire family, or a law-abiding gun owner acting in self-defense.

Yet for the GVA, and by extension the legacy media, anytime four or more people are killed or even slightly wounded with a firearm, it’s labeled a mass shooting. For example, according to the FBI and its more conservative definition, there were 30 mass shootings in 2019. The GVA claims there were 417.