(NEWS CENTER Maine) - The debate about gun violence in America has taken over your newsfeed since the horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida. NEWS CENTER Now is separating the facts from feelings on Facebook.
Tuesday afternoon, President Trump directed the Justice Department to take action on gun modifications like bump stocks used in the Las Vegas massacre - the deadliest shooting in modern US history.
NEWS CENTER Now dedicated a show to verifying or disproving rumors about the gun debate.
Eighteen school shootings - not quite
Hours after the shooting in south Florida, a shocking and disturbing statistic appeared seemingly everywhere. Sen. Bernie Sanders was one of many who said there had been 18 school shootings in America — just in 2018.
We can verify that is not correct.
That number comes from Everytown for Gun Safety, a pro-gun control group.
It would be more accurate to say there were 18 incidents involving guns on school grounds. Eight incidents involved gunfire, and there were no injuries. Seven were intentional shootings with injury or death. One was an accident and two were suicide-related.
Sen. Sanders ended up retracting his tweet.
The number of gun-related incidents on school grounds increased Tuesday, when a seventh grader in Ohio shot himself in the school bathroom. Police say the student is in the hospital, and officials were not yet sure if it was intentional as of Tuesday evening.
VERIFY: Does Maine have the most school threats per capita for the 2017-2018 school year?
A rumor was swirling around online that Maine leads the nation in school threats this year. According to a non-profit group - that's true.
Some have raised concerns with the report because the group's data comes exclusively from online media reports.
For our full breakdown -- click on the link here.
VERIFY: Did President Trump rollback an Obama-era policy that made it tougher for people with mental health issues to buy guns?
Hundreds were tweeting at the President, accusing him of quietly signing a bill to repeal the legislation. He did sign that bill - but only after it was passed easily by Congress.
We spoke with all members of Maine's Congressional delegation about their votes on the issue.
For the full report -- click on the link here.
Can a rubber door wedge slow an active shooter?
A Facebook post claiming that a rubber door wedge could slow a shooter is getting praise on social media, and more than 1 million shares.
It suggests giving them to kids, who can put them under the door inside their classroom in the case of an intruder. We put the theory to the test, and showed other security measures schools have in place.
For details on this rumor -- click on the link here.
BRAINDROPS: A study on banning assault rifles
Our affiliate KUSA in Denver did a story comparing 10+ person casualty shooting statistics before, during, and after the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.
At first glance the ban seems to have worked, but if you look at the data more closely the argument can be made the decrease in such shootings simply mirrored a nationwide reduction in homicides. Furthermore, during the 1990's, studies show rates went down in all categories of crime.