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.