QUESTIONABLE SOURCE
A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact checked on a per article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources.
- Overall, we rate Everytown for Gun Safety Questionable based on a methodology that is often misleading, as well as the promotion of propaganda through exaggerated statistics. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks by IFCN fact checkers.
Detailed Report
Reasoning: Propaganda, Numerous Failed Fact Checks
Bias Rating: LEFT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Organization/Foundation
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
Founded in 2006 by Michael R. Bloomberg, Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and against gun violence. According to their about page, “Everytown for Gun Safety seeks to improve our understanding of the causes of gun violence and the means to reduce it – by conducting groundbreaking original research, developing evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge in the courts and the court of public opinion.”
Read our profile on the United States government and media.
Funded by / Ownership
Everytown for Gun Safety is an independent, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization that is primarily funded by Michael Bloomberg. Additional funding comes through donations.
Analysis / Bias
In review, Everytown for Gun Safety is an organization that advocates for gun safety through stronger background checks, prohibiting domestic abusers from obtaining firearms, and holding the gun industry accountable. The website presents fact sheets under different categories that highlight their reasoning. For example, under the stronger background checks category, they report Background Checks Save Lives and Protect Our Communities. This fact sheet is well researched and thoroughly sourced from credible medical journals and university studies.
According to the right-leaning Influence Watch (The right’s version of Sourcewatch), Everytown is a lobbying group that has been criticized for playing “loose with the facts.” They sight several examples of criticism from the New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, and Washington Examiner. One example of this criticism is how Everytown calculates school shootings. Everytown counts a school shooting as “any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds.” This includes security officers’ accidental discharges or other accidental incidents that did not result in injuries. Politifact has rated their calculation method Mostly False.
In general, Everytown publishes news and research that supports gun control to increase safety. While they most often properly source their information, their methodology for calculating gun-related events has been criticized as being exaggerated or simply not accurate.
Failed Fact Checks
- 18 U.S. school shootings so far in 2018 and 18 in rest of the world over past 20 years – MOSTLY FALSE
- There have been 74 “school shootings in America since Sandy Hook.” – MOSTLY FALSE
- “Once again, a police officer has been killed with an illegal gun from Georgia – a state that last year did the NRA’s bidding and weakened its already lax gun laws.” – MOSTLY FALSE
- Says that “perpetrators of domestic violence accounted for 54% of mass shootings between 2009 and 2016, according to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.” – FALSE
- Georgia has had 12 school shootings in the two years since the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary School, more than any other state. – MOSTLY FALSE
- Sen. Ron Johnson voted “against funding for the police, preventing local departments from hiring more officers.” – Misleading
Overall, we rate Everytown for Gun Safety Questionable based on a methodology that is often misleading, as well as the promotion of propaganda through exaggerated statistics. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks by IFCN fact checkers. (D. Van Zandt 8/26/2019) Updated (09/29/2022)
Source: https://everytownresearch.org
Last Updated on May 24, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check
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