(National Sentinel) Facts: A new study of FBI data found just the opposite. A report by Jacob Paulsen at ConcealedCarry.com found that in 94 percent of cases, armed citizens successfully intervene during what the bureau calls “active shooter events,” which is defined by the FBI as, “One or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.”
Paulsen notes that the FBI has published three reports that detail active shooter events between 2000 and 2017. The first covers event between 2000-2013; the second from 2014-2015; and the third from 2016-2017.
“They manually search for and include [these events] in their reports the same way anyone else might Google it which of course means there is room for error particularly in missing events that should have been included,” Paulsen writes. He notes further that the FBI does not include domestic shooting incidents or gang-related shootings in its reports.
Also, “For the FBI to define an incident as an Active Shooter incident both law enforcement personnel and citizens have to have the potential to affect the outcome of the event based upon their responses to the situation,” he writes.
In a series of charts and graphics, Paulsen dissected the 283 known active shooter incidents discovered during the time period that includes data from the FBI’s original reports and additional incidents identified by the Crime Prevention Research Center that the bureau missed.
He notes early on that it became obvious that, as time passed, active shooter incidents occurred with more frequency. He also said that the FBI’s data does not include the kind of weapon used in each active shooter incident, but judging from the pattern — some years saw four or more incidents while others saw only one — it’s impossible for the Left to claim that an increase in ownership of so-called “assault weapons” is also increasing the number of incidents.
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Paulsen’s objective wasn’t merely to rehash or repackage the FBI and CPRC data.
“We thought it would be interesting to see if the overall percentage of events at which an armed citizen was present was increasing given the rise in concealed carry permit holders and gun owners nationwide,” he wrote, adding that there could have been times when an armed citizen was present during an active shooting incident but for some reason chose not to engage the attacker.
Paulsen and his team found that of the 283 events examined, an armed citizen was present 11.7 percent of the time or 33 of them.
A further examination of those 33 cases found “armed citizens were successful at stopping the active shooter 75.8 percent of the time (25 incidents) and were successful in reducing the loss of life in an additional 18.2 percent (6 ) of incidents.” Translated, “armed citizens are successful 94 percent of the time at active shooter events,” he concluded.
Conclusion: More guns, less crime, more lives saved.
A version of this story first appeared at NewsTarget.
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