Fox News viewers are adamant about sheltering themselves in their own alternative reality, but Shepard Smith burst their bubble after Wednesday’s deadly shooting in Florida.
During his program, Smith listed every fatal school shooting in the United States since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Video:
Shepard Smith reads off a list of fatal school shootings since Columbine
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The list is long. Too freaking long. pic.twitter.com/K7NU3lpcCz
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) February 14, 2018
“Since Columbine in 1999, there have been 25 fatal, active school shooting incidents at elementary and high schools in America,” the Fox Host told his viewers.
Smith’s reality check comes on the heels of the still-unfolding tragedy in Parkland, Florida, where a shooter took out at least 17 individuals at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. More than a dozen were taken to local hospitals with injuries.
It should be noted that this is the 18th school shooting in the United States in 2018 alone, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. As political analyst Jeff Greenfield noted in a tweet on Wednesday, the total number of American school shootings this year matches the number of school shootings around the world over the past twenty years.
In the rest of the world, there have been 18 school shootings in the last twenty years. In the U.S., there have been 18 school shootings since January 1–35 days.
— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) February 14, 2018
Meanwhile, the President of the United States and his Republican allies in Congress – all paid handsomely by the NRA to not do anything to tackle America’s gun problem – were quick to offer their thoughts and prayers on Wednesday.
If past is prologue, though, those empty condolences will lead to more inaction. Like usual, the deaths of 17 more innocent Americans are likely to spur no meaningful response from our so-called leaders.
As Shepard Smith noted on Wednesday, Parkland, Florida joined a long and disturbing list of deadly school shootings in the United States over the past two decades. With NRA-owned GOP leaders controlling Washington, it likely won’t be the last addition to that uniquely American list.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
