Another mass shooting. And the media has been quick to pile on half-truths and outright lies in order to manipulate youth who are easy to manipulate and adults who just don’t have the time or energy to dig into what they’re being told.
So, today, I wanted to give you a quick and dirty rundown of 3 of the biggest “mass shooting” myths and “the rest of the story” that you won’t hear in the mainstream media.
Myth #1: The US is the only place that has mass shootings
The biggest problem with this myth is the concept that someone killed by a gun is worth more than someone who is killed from other causes. This is sick and wrong, but if you look at the way deaths are handled by the media, they have determined that deaths in the US get more coverage than overseas and deaths due to gunfire get more coverage than deaths from other causes.
When we look at “violent crime” rates instead of just gun homicide rates, what we find is that violent crime rates almost always go up when civilian gun ownership goes down. This story has repeated throughout history whenever governments have disarmed their citizens and turned them into subjects.
If we look at bombings, car attacks, knife and machete attacks, and mortar attacks around the world, things don’t look as bad in the US.
In fact, if we just look at Islamic terror attacks around the world in the last 30 days, there were 137 attacks in 24 countries resulting in 843 deaths and 1134 injuries.
Myth #2: Getting rid of guns or “common sense” gun laws will solve the problem
Again, the question has to be asked, which is more important, reducing gun deaths or deaths in general?
There are already 20,000 gun laws on the books in the US. What magical pink-unicorn-inspired gun law will change the soul of a man willing to murder people? What mythical law will cause them to make the jump from killing with a gun to co-existing peacefully with the people they hate instead of just switching to another weapon?
If you want to save lives…specifically teenagers…there’s a potential to save 10x more lives by reducing car accidents than by reducing deaths by gunshot injuries. TEN TIMES more lives. So, why aren’t kids skipping school to take defensive driving classes instead of “marching” to end gun violence? Could it be because their brains are still developing and they are easily influenced by the media?
Myth #3: There have been 22 school shootings this year so far
When you get to define the terms, you get to control the argument.
Those 22 shootings included a kid getting shot with a bb gun, drug deals gone bad in apartment complexes on university property, accidental discharges, drug deal gone bad in a parking lot of a school in the middle of the night, and drunk/drugged adults doing stupid things on university campuses.
Saying that there have been 22 school shootings so far this year is deceptive, dishonest, and disgusting.
The reality is that we’ve had 7 mass shootings at schools since 2000. 7 in 17 and a half years. 7 is horrible and everyone agrees that zero is the only acceptable number, but the reality of the situation is that we have taken God and morality out of the schools, we expose kids to hundreds of thousands of instances of violence while their brains are forming, we don’t give them the pressure relief valve of recess or low-intensity fights, we over medicate them, over sugar them, and give them free access to mind-warping social media.
We ignore warning signs. When kids act out, we cover up their crimes instead of getting them help.
Then, when someone snaps, we blame guns.
What do we do?
There are answers for individuals and there are answers for society.
The answers for society will be debated and flushed out in a slow and painful process.
The answers for individuals are much simpler and quicker.
You need to train.
Reading a book or just watching a DVD or tv show is not training. Doing is training.
But whatever you do, train.
Train now. Train a little bit every day. Because you won’t be able to manufacture skill once you find yourself in a fight for your life. You’ve either trained skills and own them or you haven’t.
Don’t be found wanting. Train hard.
Questions? Comments? Fire away by commenting below
by Mike Ox
Mike Ox is an avid defensive and competitive shooter who has co-created several firearms training products, including Dry Fire Training Cards, https://se965.infusionsoft.com/go/dftcmedia/loadout
Dry Fire Fit, 21 Day Alpha Shooter, and See Faster, Shoot Faster. His brain based training focuses on accelerated learning techniques for shooting as well as controlling brain state and brain chemistry for optimal performance in extreme stress situations. Learn more about dynamic dry fire training for defense and competition at www.DryFireTrainingCards.com/blog
