Now, I'm a little concerned that guns aren't a bigger issue in this election, but only to a point. I understand that the polling is just on the issue, not which side of the issue voters are coming down on. At least some who have that as their big, primary issue are gun voters who want to preserve the Second Amendment. Others want to infringe all over those rights.

So I kind of wish restoring our rights to what the Founders envisioned was a bigger part of the election, but the fact that gun control isn't is still a win.

Unfortunately, the media is trying to convince you that it is.

Take this piece from US News titled, "Moms, Gen Z Press for Action to Address School Shootings."

It's not like anyone opposes school shootings. The problem is that we can't agree on how to address them. And them sitting down with Shannon Watts tells you all you need to know.

Heading into the 2024 election, school shootings and gun violence are among the leading issues motivating young voters and women. Yet getting bipartisan support  – at all levels of government – for further legislative measures to make schools and communities safer remains an ongoing challenge. 

Shannon Watts founded Moms Demand Action, the nation’s largest grassroots group to combat gun violence, after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting tragedy. She is currently a board member of Emerge America, a leading organization recruiting and training women to run for office, and the author of “Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World.”

Watts discussed with U.S. News the trauma experienced by children trying to learn in environments they fear are unsafe, how these issues may play out in next week’s election, and how to successfully drive change in a polarized political environment. The excerpts below have been edited for length and clarity.

Here's the thing, though. A lot of those kids feel unsafe not because they're unsafe, but because people like Watts continue to tell them they are, the media amplifies it, and they don't know otherwise. 

In other worse, they feel unsafe and are traumatized not because the problem is that significant and common, but because the media traumatizes then with every new report on how school shootings are super common.

U.S. News: Media reports have reinforced the public perception that the rate of school shootings is following an alarming trajectory in recent years. Is the situation worsening?

Shannon Watts: It's not your imagination. There were about 20 school shootings in 1970. In 2021, there were over 250. This is a uniquely American crisis. There is no other high-income country where they tolerate the ongoing shootings on school grounds of students and teachers. We know the reason for this. About two-thirds of all school shooters are under the age of 17. Their parents or guardians have unsecured guns in their homes. They get them, and they bring them to school. When there's a shooting tragedy, our reaction is not to act, but to ignore it. And so it is not shocking that we have this crisis in our country – and we know the solution, right? I think that's what makes it so frustrating. But at the end of the day, these school shootings, or even the threat of them, cause such incredible fear and anxiety and worry among parents and students alike.

Here's the thing, though. I actually clicked that link, and let's understand the loose definition of "school shooting" they're using.

It's basically any shooting on school property.

Of the total number of shootings from 1966 to 2024, 127 of them happened when it wasn't even a school day and another 197 of them happened at night. 353 happened during sporting events that are open to the public.

Additionally, when you look at where these shootings happened, you realize the vast majority occur in the parking lot. What that means is that while many of those might well have been students, they also could have involved people with no affiliation to the school who just happened to have their altercation in the school parking lot, many of which aren't secured in any way.

Plus, let's remember there are over 130,000 schools in the United States. Over 250 school shootings, even by this loosey-goosey definition of the term, still don't account for even one percent of schools. Especially when you realize that the schools these tend to happen at are usually in larger cities that happen to also be anti-gun.

Yet this is kind of the point. They lump everything in together to make the issue look so much worse than it is, then report about how this thing is super common when it's not.

Then they try to pretend that moms and kids are upset and are going to vote based on the issue when there's absolutely no evidence of that.

Take Tennessee, for example. One of the three most vocal anti-gunners in the Tennessee legislature following the Nashville shooting decided to run for the US Senate. She's being curb-stomped.

Despite Shannon Watts and her firm dedication to stripping us of our gun rights--she once lost her freaking mind over a bolt-action .22 rifle because it was tacticool, which means nothing is off-limits for her--the American people don't seem to be buying it this time around.