Lawmakers have a responsibility to check out the facts in the reports they use, especially ones that come from advocacy groups. If they are aware there are definitions that are disputed, or that are defined in other ways depending on who uses them, it is incumbent on lawmakers to clarify exactly what they are talking about and not mislead the public. In particular, lawmakers should rely more on official government statistics, such as from the FBI, rather than misleading metrics cobbled together by interest groups.
We wavered between Three and Four Pinocchios. But this is a definition of “school shooting” that was widely disputed a year ago, and lawmakers need to present information — especially for such a controversial topic as gun control — in a clear, responsible and accurate way. Murphy’s failure to do so tipped the rating to Four.
Michelle Ye Hee Lee
June 29, 2015
Has there been one school shooting per week since Sandy Hook?
[Gun control advocates lie because it is in their nature and they have to if they are to have any hope of achieving their goals. That people at The Washington Post are pointing out their lies is a really big deal.—Joe]
One is given to wonder why the WP would be advocating for the truth when the truth is so clearly their enemy. I can think of two, interconnected reasons.
1a. Credibility. It may be that they decided they must have at least some credibility at least once in a while, so as to stay in business. News is a business after all.
1b. They may have information that says the American public is overwhelmingly opposed to further lying about gun control, or they may have information that says it no longer matters what the American people think. Either way they would no longer see a reason to lie. A smart liar only lies when he stands a chance of benefitting from a lie. See reason 1a.
2. They may be setting up to tell some gigantic lies. See reason number one. Your lies are better served with a dose of occasional truth. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.
So, 1a +2 = tell the truth about something inconsequential so that when caught on the gigantic lie one can reply truthfully that one did tell the truth about something.
Sorry to get all algebraic here.