Letter to the Editor: Correlation is not causation in ‘fewer shootings’ article

Published 11:00 am Friday, March 6, 2026

There was good news in the Feb. 25 story “King County reports fewest shootings since before the pandemic.”

Assuming the data was collected and tabulated consistently and accurately, of course. But it hardly seems fair to connect the shooting levels to the Coronavirus. I’m unaware of any study that lists the reckless or malevolent discharge of firearms as a symptom of the virus.

You are probably familiar with the truism, “Correlation does not imply causation.” If we were to make conclusions upon there being a high degree of correlation, I would observe that the “Shots fired incidents” data presented in the article shows approximately a 50% increase in shots fired incidents annually during the four years of the Biden administration, bookended by the far lower numbers in the last year of the first Trump presidency and the first year of his second term.

The pandemic officially ended in mid-2023 (the middle of the Biden era) but King County shots fired incidents remained high for 2023 and 2024. So a more appropriate headline would substitute the words “Biden presidency” for the word “pandemic,” though some would argue these are synonyms.

Kristopher Galvin

Black Diamond