CNN reported there have been “at least 45 mass shootings” in the past month since the Atlanta spa killings last month as part of a wave of recent digital and on-air coverage hyping the country’s “epidemic of mass violence,” leading to pushback from gun rights supporter and journalist Cam Edwards.
The liberal network acknowledged it had crafted its own definition of the term in a report that on-air anchors also shared.
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But Bearing Arms’ Edwards is among the experts pushing back at that arbitrary definition. The veteran Second Amendment journalist and gun rights supporter presented a set of numbers that puts the state of the U.S. in a different light.
“The phrase ‘mass shooting’ has no specific meaning, and can be as broadly defined as gun control activists see fit,” Edwards told Fox News on Monday. “What we do know is that, starting last year the United States reversed a 20+ year trend of lower violent crime, and that trend has continued into 2021. Violent crime was declining in this country even as the number of privately-owned firearms increased over the past two decades, and while the anti-gun movement inherently believes that more guns equals more crime, we know that’s not the case.”
Yet CNN editor-at large Chris Cillizza shared a piece over the weekend arguing that the FedEx massacre last week is the latest proof that the U.S. is a danger zone, particularly when compared to other countries.
“There is no debate that we have an epidemic of mass violence committed with guns in this country,” he writes. “There is scads of data that make that point. Here’s one: Of all homicides in America in 2019, 73% of them were gun-related, according to data from the FBI. That compares to an estimated 39% in Canada, 22% in Australia and just 4% in England and Wales. Here’s another: The US averages 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, more than double the next country (Yemen, at 52.8 firearms per 100 people). And there were nearly 23 million firearms purchased in the US in 2020, a new record high.”
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., also shook her head along with anchor Dana Bash Sunday to note that “there are some countries who have warnings about coming to the United States.”
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On Saturday, CNN’s Michael Smerconish said regarding gun violence that he’s “resigned to the fact that this is part of American life.” He argued that “we lack the fundamental will to alter our gun culture.”
President Biden has said that gun violence “is an epidemic in America” and urged Congress to act on gun control legislation. Edwards has a different idea.
“Instead of trying to ban our way to safety, we need to be addressing the critical lack of inpatient beds for those in the grips of a mental health crisis, as well as rethinking and rescinding those policies that are putting repeat, violent offenders back on the street with few consequences for their attacks on innocent Americans,” Edwards said.
