Six Years of GVPedia - Part 2: The CDC Retraction
That time we spurred the CDC to remove flawed defensive gun use numbers from its website.
This month marks the sixth anniversary of GVPedia. To celebrate the occasion, we want to highlight some of our successes in the cause of gun violence prevention. This is the second installment of a six-part series.
A core part of GVPedia’s mission is push back on pro-gun myths, often propagated by NRA lawyers or suspect lobbyists. Beyond that, we see it as our duty to recognize and fight against the spread of misinformation on a larger scale, even if it comes from something as institutional and powerful as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Given our comprehensive and growing database — combined with our collaborative connections with the Gun Violence Archive, Brady United, Giffords, Change the Ref, and numerous other facts-fueled, gun violence prevention organizations — we have the information and experience to confront gun myths wherever they arise.
Such was the case in the summer of 2021 when GVPedia President and Founder, Devin Hughes, reached out to the CDC to correct the following statement on their “Fast Facts” page:
“Estimates of defensive gun use vary depending on the questions asked, populations studied, timeframe, and other factors related to the design of studies. The report, Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence, indicates a range of 60,000 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses each year."
That statement came from a National Academy of Sciences report that contained inaccuracies about defensive gun use. Thus began a spirited email exchange instigated by Hughes — with help from Po Murray, the head of Newtown Action Alliance and a board member of GVPedia — that resulted in a meeting with CDC staff, and ultimately corrective changes to its “Fast Facts” page. This then led to heated, if ultimately failed, counter-demands to the CDC from outraged pro-gun commentators and Republican party leaders….
The entire episode highlighted just how crucial false defensive gun use information is to the gun lobby, and the steps they will take to maintain and spread that disinformation.
And here at GVPedia, we stand ready to confront and correct such falsehoods.
You can read all about it here, part 10 of a recent 12-part series we created concerning the defensive gun use myth.
Going up against the CDC and prevailing upon them to correct misinformation astounds. I wonder if Devin, or Caitlin (et. al.) would consider writing a piece that might act as tutorial: an example of how they gather gv news on a given day, how they fact-check it, and how they think about sharing their findings.