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Verify: Deaths by gun violence

<p>House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (C) speaks during Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 26, 2016. </p>

PHILADELPHIA - Before Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, speakers took the stage to continue drawing contrast between Clinton and Donald Trump.

One issue discussed was gun control. In a speech about the sit-in House Democrats staged over their proposal to block gun sales to people on the no-fly list, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, “For the sake of the 91 Americans who are killed by gun violence each day, we must break the grip of the gun lobby on Congress.”

This is an OVERSTATEMENT.

According to the CDC’s latest report on deaths, she is correct in saying 91 die each day by gunfire. However, what she didn’t include is that the majority of those people died by suicide. The number of homicides with guns is far lower, 30 per day.

We also heard an argument from Congressman Patrick Maloney meant to portray Republicans as anti-gay:

"Last week, a speaker at the Republican convention called equality a "distraction." "Who cares?" he asked. Well, I care."

This needs CONTEXT.

He’s referring to PayPal founder Peter Theil who made headlines as an openly gay speaker at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Theil did not call equality a “distraction” in a general sense. He was talking about the debate over laws dealing with gender and bathrooms.

“When I was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the Soviet Union. And we won. Now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. This is a distraction from our real problems. Who cares?”

Obviously some people, especially at the DNC, do care. They see the debate over gender and bathrooms as an equality issue not to be dismissed. But the comment at the RNC was narrower than Maloney made it sound.

Our team of researchers will also dive into Hillary Clinton’s speech—the same as we did with Donald Trump’s last week.

Before You Leave, Check This Out