According to research done by John Lott, founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, dozens of cases where a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun are missing from the FBI’s statistics, which Lott says has fueled a false narrative that rarely do good guys with guns stop shootings.
From The Washington Times:
The FBI says the rate of active shooting incidents ended by good guys with guns is 4.4% over the years. Mr. Lott says it’s 34.4%.
The FBI’s conclusions are widely cited, particularly as new shootings revive old debates about gun control and whether more access to weapons is safer or more dangerous.
When an armed citizen does intervene and it draws national headlines — as happened at an Indiana mall food court last year — news accounts are quick to point to the FBI’s findings as evidence that it’s a rarity. The FBI’s numbers also have been used in court cases, and they pepper legislative debates on Capitol Hill and in state assemblies.
Mr. Lott said the numbers are so distorted by shoddy work and judgment calls that they are not just worthless but also misleading.
“It’s garbage,” Mr. Lott told The Washington Times. “They should be embarrassed.”
Read the full story over at The Washington Times:
FBI data on good guys with guns called ‘garbage’ as critic finds many more caseshttps://t.co/jzWvbe8aS5 pic.twitter.com/rfw8wSuSnP
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) March 21, 2023