“Black Lives Matter,” Except In Chicago

How the Left ignores certain victims to push their “gun violence” narrative

“Gun violence” is undeniably a problem in the United States.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were a total of 45,012 “gun violence” deaths in 2021. Of these, 24,156 were suicides (53.5%), and among the remaining 20,922 non-suicides, 1,277 were defensive killings (6.1%), 2,016 were unintentional shootings (9.6%), and 692 were murders during a mass shooting event (3.3%).

Given the raw number of firearm homicides in the United States, just how does the media decide the level of coverage assigned to each of these shootings? Well, it’s actually quite simple! They just consider three key factors: location, weapon, and identity.

Combined, these factors combine to choose between wall-to-wall coverage, short-lived and minimal coverage, or no coverage whatsoever.

For example, on Wednesday June 1 alone, there were three shootings which occurred at approximately the same time: a shooting at a nail salon near a Walmart in Pittston Township, Pennsylvania, a shooting outside a Los Angeles high school, and a shooting at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Chances are you only heard about the shooting in Tulsa.

Indeed, the widespread response to the shootings from political figures was also focused on Tulsa. Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted, “My heart is with the Tulsa community as it mourns,” adding that “It just never ends.” He didn’t mention the other shootings — even though his own district is in Los Angeles County.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that President Biden had been briefed on the shooting in Tulsa with no mention of the other shootings, and New York City Assemblywoman, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, responded, “White Supremacy is clearly a factor” in Tulsa.

By the way, the suspected shooter in Tulsa is black…

For the media and the Democratic Party (but I repeat myself), the calculus in the aftermath of any mass shooting event is as follows:

1) Is the suspected shooter white?

If so, “white supremacy” is the primary area of concern — regardless of whether this was a motivating factor.

2) Was an AR-15 used?

If the weapon used was a so-called “assault weapon,” the focus becomes the tool rather than the perpetrator if they are not white, or the tool as well as the perpetrator if they are white.

3) Where did the shooting occur?

If the shooting took place in a “red” state, or “under” a Republican politician, then additional low-level culpability is applied. In Texas, for example, Governor Greg Abbott was blamed for the Uvalde school shooting. No such blame was assigned to New York Governor Kathy Hochul following the shooting in Buffalo.

In simple terms, if the shooter is white, then white supremacy is to blame. If an AR-15 is used, the weapon is to blame. If the shooter is white and an AR-15 is used, then both white supremacy and the weapon are to blame. If the shooting takes place in a Republican area, then that area’s leadership is to blame. And with each overlapping factor, media coverage increases.