Even the Trace, the anti-gun agitprop arm of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun empire, appears to have stopped using the discredited GVA data. This is a seismic shift in the ever-warped world of media gun control narratives, and it’s USA Today that’s unwittingly spilling the beans on their own house of cards. According to a recent exposé, USA Today has openly admitted in their own pages that they rely on Gun Violence Archive (GVA) data—a notoriously inflated tally that counts everything from suicides, gang shootouts, domestic disputes, and even police-involved incidents as mass shootings. We’re talking about numbers bloated by up to 10 times the FBI’s stricter criteria, which define mass shootings as ideologically or criminally motivated attacks killing four or more innocents (excluding the shooter). USA Today’s policy? Keep pumping out these bogus stats to stoke fear and fuel the gun-grabbers’ agenda, even as their own reporting flags the data’s flaws. It’s like a chef admitting the ingredients are rancid but serving the meal anyway—pure malpractice masked as journalism.

This confession isn’t just embarrassing; it’s a goldmine for the 2A community. For years, we’ve watched outlets like USA Today weaponize GVA’s junk science to paint America as a Wild West bloodbath, justifying everything from red flag laws to outright confiscation schemes. Remember the post-Parkland hysteria or the endless thoughts and prayers mockery? All propped up on this shaky foundation. Now, with even Bloomberg’s pet project The Trace quietly ditching GVA—likely after internal audits revealed the emperor’s nakedness—the narrative is cracking. It’s vindication for fact-checkers like the Crime Prevention Research Center’s John Lott, who’ve long debunked these inflations, showing real mass public shootings are rare and often stopped by armed good guys. The implications? Gun rights advocates can now wield this as a battering ram: demand retractions, challenge every epidemic claim in court, and highlight how media bias erodes public trust. As states like Florida and Texas fortify self-defense laws amid falling crime rates, this exposes the antis’ desperation—resorting to fake stats when real data shows armed citizens make communities safer.

For the 2A faithful, the playbook is clear: amplify this everywhere. Share the USA Today admission far and wide, pair it with FBI stats showing violent crime plummeting since the ’90s despite more guns in civilian hands, and keep the pressure on. Bloomberg’s billions can’t buy credibility forever, and as even their allies bail on GVA, the tide turns. This isn’t just a win; it’s momentum. Stay vigilant, stay armed, and let’s curate the truth they won’t touch.