The FBI has actively misrepresented statistics to avoid crediting armed citizens for stopping active shooters, according to a source that should really know.
In news that will surprise absolutely nobody, a former senior advisor for research and statistics for the Department of Justice has claimed that the FBI has simply failed to report the cases where armed citizens intervened and saved lives.
John R Lott Jr says that the number of armed citizens that have dealt with active shooters and saved lives is actually eight times higher than the FBI would like to admit to.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s own numbers say that between 2014-2022, 14 law abiding citizens stepped in to stop 4.6% of active shooters in their tracks.
That is a conservative estimate at best, and an outright lie at worst, according to Lott Jr.
The politicization of crime data
— John R Lott Jr. (@JohnRLottJr) August 31, 2023
“The FBI data on active shootings is missing so many defensive gun uses that it’s hard to believe it isn’t intentional. Errors can happen, but the failure to fix past reports shows a troubling disregard for the truth”#2a https://t.co/SwtcS3SANg
“While the FBI claims that just 4.6% of active shootings were stopped by law-abiding citizens carrying guns, the percentage that I found was 35.7%. I am more confident that we have identified a higher share of recent cases, and our figure for 2022 was even higher — 41.3%,” Lott reported.
“The CPRC’s numbers tell a different story: Out of 440 active shooter incidents from 2014 to 2022, an armed citizen stopped 157. We also found that the FBI had misidentified five cases, usually because the person who stopped the attack was incorrectly identified as a security guard.”
How is the FBI Manipulating the Numbers?
Other clever sleight of hand includes the FBI failing to separate the stats into areas and that does matter. In cities, regions and locales where concealed carry and open carry are permitted, armed citizens stopped active shootings is was 51% and in 2022 that rose to 63.5%
So the message is clear. Armed citizens stop active shooters. And yet that is hardly the message the public is getting.
Lott spoke to Real Clear Politics, and claims when he approached the FBI to clarify these important oversights, he was not welcomed with open arms.
“The FBI data on active shootings is missing so many defensive gun uses that it’s hard to believe it isn’t intentional. Errors can happen, but the failure to fix past reports shows a troubling disregard for the truth. The reality is that armed, law-abiding citizens are unsung guardian angels”
A hat tip to The Daily Caller and MSN News for the story…
