Barack Obama Repeats False Claim of 18 School Shootings This Year

U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement about multiple acts of violence in Paris in
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
AWR Hawkins

Former President Barack Obama repeated the false claim of “18 shootings in schools this year” while speaking to a cardiology conference Monday night in Washington, DC.

The Washington Examiner quoted Obama saying, “If you ask me the thing that broke my heart, particularly when now I see there have been, and I’ve gotta update this, […] 18 shootings in schools this year… this year!”

The claim of 18 school shootings this year was widely pushed in the immediate aftermath of the February 14 attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. However, it was quickly proven false by Breitbart News, the Washington Post, and others.

On February 14, the day of the attack, Breitbart News reported that the source for the claim of 18 shootings was Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety. Moreover, Breitbart News showed that one of the alleged 18 incidents did not even occur in a school, another was a suicide in which the victim targeted himself only, and eight more were incidents in which there were no injuries or fatalities.

The next day, the Washington Post responded to the claim of 18 school shootings as well, describing the claim as “horrifying but … wrong.” The Post demonstrated that Everytown had taken a wide conglomeration of events–suicides, accidental discharges, fights at college parties, etc.–and put them all together under the moniker of school shootings.

Everytown responded by altering its claim of 18 school shootings, yet Obama used his March 6 speech to claim there have been “18 shootings in schools this year.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

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