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An organization that keeps tabs on incidents of mass shootings is calling foul when looking at the statistics generated by the FBI in terms of those legally allowed to own firearms stopping these tragic events.
The organization claims that the FBI has been undercounting these incidents “by an order of more than three.”
If we are to believe the mainstream media and the FBI, there are few instances in which a legally armed citizen stops someone who is on a violent rampage, indiscriminately shooting others.
However, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center, that is hardly the case. . . .
John Lott’s research suggests that members of a minority group are disproportionately denied by the NICS system, compelling bipartisan House Members to insert a required DOJ demographic study on NICS denials into a large gun package they passed in June. . . .
John R. Lott Jr., the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center(CPRC), revealed in a report published on Wednesday by RealClearInvestigations that the FBI grossly underestimates (i.e., by an order of more than three) the number of times an armed citizen has thwarted an active shooter event. He suggested that the narrative constructed by the FBI and developed further by the media on the basis of the allegedly skewed data interpretation may be misused for political purposes.
Whereas the FBI reported that 4.4% of active shooter incidents between 2014 and 2021 were precluded or ended by armed citizens, the CPRC has found that the number is actually 14.6%. Lott admits that even this figure may be an underestimate.
Lott attributes the discrepancy to misclassified shootings and to overlooked incidents, both of which have much to do with how an “active shooter event” has been defined.
The FBI defines an active shooter as “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” An “active shooter incident” reportedly does not account for incidents the Bureau “deems related to other criminal activity, such as a robbery or fighting over drug turf.” . . .
A 2018 Crime Prevention Research Center study found that “red flag laws had no significant effect on murder, suicide, the number of people killed in mass shootings, robbery, aggravated assault, or burglary.” . . .
John R. Lott noted in examining this claim is that while gun-related killings increased 17 percent in a five-year stretch after the repeal, they were already increasing before the repeal. In fact, before the repeal they had increased by nearly 30 percent. . . .
REALCLEARINVESTIGATIONS: How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers — and Media Play Along.
The shooting that killed three people and injured another at a Greenwood, Indiana, mall on July 17 drew broad national attention because of how it ended – when 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, carrying a licensed handgun, fatally shot the attacker.
While Dicken was praised for his courage and skill – squeezing off his first shot 15 seconds after the attack began, from a distance of 40 yards – much of the news coverage drew from FBI-approved statistics to assert that armed citizens almost never stop such attackers: “Rare in US for an active shooter to be stopped by bystander” (Associated Press); “Rampage in Indiana a rare instance of armed civilian ending mass shooting” (Washington Post); and “After Indiana mall shooting, one hero but no lasting solution to gun violence” (New York Times).
Evidence compiled by the organization I run, the Crime Prevention Research Center, and others suggest that the FBI undercounts by an order of more than three the number of instances in which armed citizens have thwarted such attacks, saving untold numbers of lives. Although those many news stories about the Greenwood shooting also suggested that the defensive use of guns might endanger others, there is no evidence that these acts have harmed innocent victims.
“So much of our public understanding of this issue is malformed by this single agency,” notes Theo Wold, former acting assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice. “When the Bureau gets it so systematically – and persistently – wrong, the cascading effect is incredibly deleterious. The FBI exerts considerable influence over state and local law enforcement and policymakers at all levels of government.” . . . .
