The gun debate is often full of emotion and a personal sense of what is right. Real facts are sometimes difficult to find. Distinguishing between truth and spin can be one of the greatest challenges in forming an educated opinion on today's most polarizing topics. It makes it even more challenging when academic studies are skewed and twisted to create deceiving results that are not a truthful representation of reality.
A 2017 study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and heavily referenced over the last 2 years in the gun debate, is a prime example of this untruthful spin.
The study claims that on average, a child is injured by a firearm every day in Ontario. When reviewed in detail, we find that the study considers a child to be 0-24 years old, and we find that the study considers a firearm to be anything that shoots a projectile including things like pellet guns, air-soft guns, paintball markers, and nurf guns. Finally, we find that the study considers an injury to be any medical visit, however minor, as a result of the use of these toys.
Examples of media coverage about this example can be found here:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/firearm-injuries-cmaj-1.4040628
The Full Text of the study can be found here: