The Truth About Armed Citizens Stopping Mass Shootings
As the nation wrestles with yet another mass shooting, this time in Jacksonville, Florida, a new report provides some troubling news for the anti-gunner lobby, which exploits these tragedies to push for more restrictions on gun ownership. However, the numbers do provide some good news for proponents of the 2nd Amendment and those who understand that decent people with guns save lives.
The Jacksonville shooting not only reignited conversations about racism but also about gun rights. However, as always, these discussions neglect a significant factor in this debate: The role of armed citizens in preventing or mitigating mass shootings. The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) sheds more light on a reality of which most Americans remain unaware.
When was the last time you saw a report detailing how an armed citizen foiled a mass shooting? Chances are that the answer is “never.” But these numbers suggest it happens more often than we think.
The report noted that the FBI’s statistics on these cases do not tell the whole story. The Bureau says armed citizens have stopped only 14 out of the 302 active shooter incidents between 2014 and 2022. The media has used these numbers to paint the picture that this rarely happens.
However, the CPRC’s report reveals that 41 percent of active shooting incidents were stopped by armed citizens. Furthermore, in incidents taking place outside of “gun-free zones,” 63 percent of active shooting cases were stopped by a “good guy with a gun.”
The organization’s report shows that, in reality, armed civilians stopped about 157 out of 440 active shooter situations during the aforementioned time period. Dr. John R. Lott Jr., the head of the CPRC, indicated that this discrepancy is the result of FBI oversights and misclassifications, including omitting cases in which armed citizens scared away attackers or were mistaken for security personnel.
The CPRC also provides a list of local news stories detailing incidents in which an armed civilian stopped a mass shooter. One example occurred in 2014 when a gunman opened fire at Mystic Gentleman’s Club in Portland, Oregon. After shooting three people, he was fatally shot by an armed citizen.
Another incident occurred in 2020 in Commack, New York, where a gunman showed up at a homeless shelter demanding to be taken to a resident living there:
A shelter employee led the gunman to the man’s room, where he was living with a teenager and a toddler. The gunman ordered everyone to the lobby — where he was confronted by the resident’s relative. A shootout ensued inside and outside the facility between the two. The shelter visitor was fatally shot, while the resident’s relative was seriously wounded.
Here’s the $64,000 question, folks: Why are these stories rarely given any attention? Why don’t news outlets provide the type of wall-to-wall coverage that other active shooter situations get?
We already know the answer, don’t we?
These are strategic omissions that enable Democrats and the elite media to push for more gun restrictions without having to address the inconvenient truth that lawful gun owners are often the first line of defense against a would-be mass shooter. The last thing they would want is for people to find out that having a firearm increases one’s chances of stopping a crazed gunman with a vendetta. This might inspire even more people to become gun owners.
Oh, the horror!
As I always say, the elite media typically does not lie by making up facts. Instead, it is easier to deceive the public by strategically omitting facts that might contradict the narrative they so desperately want you to believe. Remember the Fine People hoax?
Thanks to CPRC and people like John R. Lott, the anti-gunner’s narrative is crumbling like a Jenga tower in a hurricane. By compiling these reports, they are helping folks like us educate the public on the truth behind gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment. I have seen firsthand that the more people know about guns and responsible ownership, the less likely they are to let anti-gun propaganda scare them into believing that the government should continue enacting restrictions on firearms. In the end, education is the key to safeguarding the right to keep and bear arms.
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