Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, Giffords, claimed on Monday that “one in 15 adults,” or over 17 million people, have “survived a mass shooting” in the U.S.
Giffords posted to X: “NEW: One in 15 adults have survived a mass shooting, according to researchers from multiple universities. It’s a startling statistic, yet it doesn’t even include the number of Americans impacted by community violence, domestic violence, and suicides.”
In a subsequent community note, readers added context to the post, writing: “This is likely incorrect and based on exaggerated data. 1 in 15 adults would equal about 17,500,000 survivors. Data shows shows nowhere near that number of killings, much less survivors. The 1 in 15 estimate is off by orders of magnitude.”
The National Association for Gun Rights described Giffords’ claim as “wildly exaggerated” in a repost.
“They’re getting really desperate with these imaginary statistics. This is wildly exaggerated even by their standards. Which says a lot,” the association wrote.
The precise number of mass shootings in a given year or over a number of years is difficult to ascertain because the Gun Violence Archive and other pro-gun control outlets have changed the definition of such an event. In doing so, double homicides, murder-suicides, triple homicides, gang violence, and even firearm-related incidents in which zero fatalities occur are classified as mass shootings. This warped nomenclature allows pro-gun control organizations — and mainstream media outlets that parrot their skewed statistics — to perpetuate demonstrably false narratives, such as The Hill’s 2022 claim that over 600 mass shootings took place that year.
An Associated Press data base that ran from 2006 until 2023 documented 614 “mass killings” in the U.S. for that entire period. The number of deaths in those killings: 3,170.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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