Six Years of GVPedia - Part 6: Our Projects
Six Years of GVPedia - Part 6: Our Projects
A few of the main, massive projects we've taken on in our first six years.
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 final entry in a six-part series.
This article originally appeared in the GVPedia Five Year Impact Report.
Our Projects
In the six years since GVPedia was founded, we have released a variety of projects. In the height of the pandemic, we published a report on mass shootings and created the Facts About Firearms Policy Initiative. We also continue to build our database of over 2,000 scholarly articles and white papers, and most recently we shared our research on a powerful disinformation tactic called the Firehose of Falsehood.
Report on Mass Shootings
In July 2020, we released a report titled, “Mass Shootings in America: 2013-2019,” which found that states with weak gun laws experienced 50% more gun-related deaths from mass shootings; and since 2013, the number of annual mass shootings nationwide increased by 65%. In states with strong laws, mass shooting incidents increased by 33% and fatalities by 26%, but in states with weak laws, mass shootings increased by a staggering 91% and their fatalities by 92%.
In addition, states with weak laws experienced 63% more mass shootings with an assault weapon. The study found that the use of an assault weapon makes mass shootings 4 times more lethal. During the six years covered by the study, 2,341 mass shootings left 2,642 people dead and 9,766 physically wounded.
To conduct this study, GVPedia used the Giffords Law Center’s rating system to determine “weak” and “strong” gun laws and compared that to data from the Gun Violence Archive. We also published a series of fact sheets outlining mass shooting data country-wide and from each state.
Facts About Firearms Policy Initiative
In March 2021, GVPedia published the Facts About Firearm Policy Initiative, a database that exposes the truths behind the myths and misconceptions that warp the conversation around gun violence. The user-friendly collection of data, studies, and research provides advocates with the talking points and detailed understanding needed to change hearts and minds.
The goal of this project is to debunk the most prevalent myths, provide access to resources that help spread awareness of the truth, and shed light on unethical behavior by the purveyors of these myths.
It is vital that we change the narrative because these myths have appeared in sworn testimony and prominent publications that have swayed the minds of judges, lawmakers, and the general public.
The Firehose of Falsehood
Last year, we released a study that found the gun lobby has effectively used disinformation to sway public policy, and that outlines strategies to counteract the effect of disinformation.
The study, Countering the Firehose of Falsehood: Strategies for Communicating the Truth in the Gun Violence Prevention Discussion, states that the gun lobby has effectively used a disinformation strategy called a Firehose of Falsehood (a term coined by The RAND Corporation) to achieve substantial success in the judicial system, legislative system, and in shifting public opinion on guns and gun laws.
According to the study, over the past 50 years the gun lobby has deployed at least two Firehose of Falsehood campaigns. The first campaign successfully reinterpreted the 2nd Amendment from a collective, militia based right to an individual right. The second ongoing campaign is to convince people that firearms keep them safer.
One of the most pronounced consequences of the “guns make you safer” campaign is the push for Permitless Carry laws across the country. Proponents of these laws argue that Permitless Carry will keep people safer.
Yet as GVPedia’s own research highlighted, this claim is a prime example of a Firehose of Falsehood. Homicide rates actually increase in states after the passage of permitless carry, rather than decrease, as the disinformation campaign would initially want us to think.
While we wish there wasn’t a need to ever release these projects, we are grateful for the support we have received in sharing these critical messages, and we vow to continue such efforts.