Crime Prevention Research Center: Recent Episodes
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Crime Prevention Research Center conducts research on laws regulating the ownership or use of guns, crime, and public safety.
Dr. John Lott appeared on OAN’s Nights with Chris Boyle to discuss his new investigative piece at Real Clear Investigations titled “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats.” The actual changes in crimes are extensive. The updated data for 2022 report that there were 80,029 more violent crimes than in 2021. There were an additional 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies and 37,091 aggravated assaults.
(Nights with Chris Boyle, Wednesday, October 30, 2024)
Dr. John Lott talked to Andrew Wilkow on SiriusXM’s The Wilkow Majority about his new investigative piece at Real Clear Investigations, “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats.” The FBI quietly updated its 2022 crime data to show an increase in violent crimes by 4.5%, despite previous data showing violent crimes had fallen by 2.1%.
(Thursday, October 24, 2024, from 12:45 to 12:56 PM MT)
Dr. John Lott talked to guest host Carl Jackson on The Larry Elder Show about his new investigative piece at Real Clear Investigations, “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats.” They also discussed the rise in migrant crime under the Biden-Harris administration.
(Thursday, October 24, 2024, from 5:00 to 5:30 PM PT)
Gun Talk Radio discussed a suggestion to put Dr. John Lott in charge of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Here is part of their discussion. Below is a discussion from Michael Bloomberg’s The Trace where they are worried about Dr. Lott running that office.
(Sunday, November 10, 2024)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Meyer on Oregon’s KMED about the truth about the crime statistics. See also Dr. Lott’s new investigative piece at Real Clear Investigations titled “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats.”
(Thursday, October 24, 2024, from 9:35 to 9:53 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott Jr. talked to Mike Slater on Breitbart News Daily Podcast about how the FBI’s revised crime debunks the left’s narrative that crime has gone down under the Biden-Harris administration. See also Dr. Lott’s new investigative piece at Real Clear Investigations titled “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats.”
(Tuesday, October 22, 2024)
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on the Armed American Radio show about his research at Real Clear Investigations on the “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats” and the media attention it received.
(Sunday, October 20, 2024, from 8:05 to 8:25 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott appeared on WPHT’s The Dawn Stensland Show to discuss the misrepresented statistics by federal law enforcement agencies. The revised FBI crime data reveals the agency missed 1,699 murders in their reporting of 2022 numbers, and the implications of these wrongly reported violent crimes numbers. See also Dr. Lott’s new investigative piece at Real Clear Investigations titled “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats.” They also discussed Dr. Lott’s op-ed at Real Clear Politics titled “The New Data on Migrant Crime.”
(Thursday, October 17, 2024)
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has pointed out many, many times, television crime shows seem to think criminals are constantly using machine guns to commit crime. In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type, and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use ever of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Here is an example from Amazon’s “Citadel: Diana” (Season 1, Episode 1, October 9, 2024), where a machine gun pistol is fired in Milan, Italy. The episode is supposedly taking place in 2030 when Italy is considering adopting American-style gun control. As an aside, this machine gun pistol is firing a lot more rounds than its magazine can hold.
More examples of this type of bias are available here.
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.
Dr. John Lott, President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, appeared on the Talk Back program for over an hour to discuss his new investigative piece at Real Clear Investigations, “Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly Revises Violent Crime Stats.” The piece has gone viral since its release, with the latest being discussed by Joe Rogan and Donald Trump in the October 25, 2024 interview. Dr. Lott also answered the audience’s crime and gun-violence-related questions.
(Thursday, October 31, 2024, from 8:30 to 9:45 AM MT)
From One America News: “In a new op-ed for the Federalist, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center Dr. John Lott explains how the CDC, FBI and legacy media are trying to erase a narrative that armed, law abiding citizens prevent crime. One America’s John Hines has more from Washington.” See also Dr. Lott’s work at The Federalist titled “CDC, FBI Working To Hide Data Showing Shootings Stopped By Good Guys With Guns.”
(Friday, September 13, 2024)
A new Rasmussen Reports survey in September shows overwhelming support for requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in national elections. Indeed, only liberals oppose proof of citizenship. Even Democrats as a whole support it by a clear 56%-to-33%. Interestingly, Hispanics are even stronger supporters than whites, Blacks, and other groups.
All groups (even liberals by a significant margin (51%-to-40%)) think that preventing illegal immigrants from voting is important, though liberals are again the odd group out when asked if it is worth shutting down the government to ensure that a law requiring a proof of citizenship to register to vote (36% support to 60% opposed). However, on this last question Democrats are equally divided at 47%-to-47%.
Dr. John Lott talked to Lars Larson on his national radio shows about crime in America and the newly released FBI reported crime data for 2023.
(Monday, September 23, 2024, from 6:45 to 6:53 PM ET)
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at Real Clear Politics. The piece was also published in the Tennessee Star, NOQ Report, Real Clear Policy,
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The new data on all the criminal noncitizens coming into the U.S. is shocking.
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The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checks the background of illegal aliens they have in custody. But, the administration’s letter to Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-TX) shows that as of July 21, 2024, ICE let 435,719 convicted criminals and 226,847 pending criminal charges in their home countries into the U.S.
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Of those cleared by ICE, 13,099 have convictions for homicide and another 1,845 were facing criminal charges. Another 9,461 have convictions for sex offenses (not including assault or commercialized sex), and 2,659 face pending charges. The convictions include other crimes such as assault (62,231), robbery (10,031), sexual assault (15,811), weapons offenses (13,423), and dangerous drugs (56,533).
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About 7.4 million noncitizens are in the “national docket data,” so 662,776 is 9% of the total, and if one extrapolates the numbers to the homicide rate in this country, it strongly indicates that the government is letting migrants into this country who commit murder at a rate 50% higher than the rest of the U.S. population.
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And these numbers clearly underestimate the crime rate committed by these noncitizens. The noncitizens in the “national docket data” turned themselves in to border agents for processing or were caught. Those who don’t turn themselves in are obviously far more likely to have something to hide from those doing the processing, so-called “gotaways,” who are observed illegally entering the U.S. but not caught or turned back.
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These figures coincide with other data from the Arizona prison system show illegal aliens commit crime at much higher rates than Americans or legal immigrants.
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Under the remain-in-Mexico policy, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did background checks on immigrants’ cases, including contacting the country that the immigrant is from before they are approved to come to the U.S.
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ICE agents cannot access the same databases to check on the immigrants, and they didn’t contact the immigrant’s home country. Plus, the massive inflow of immigrants has overwhelmed the system. The Deputy Director for ICE blames the “enormous work load” agents face, so they haven’t been able to do even the limited background checks they are doing. There are so many coming in that the government can’t house these immigrants until their backgrounds are properly checked.
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ICE processed these criminals as they entered the country, but it didn’t identify them as criminals, so it released them into the country. Now, they are just walking around freely in the United States, and no one knows where they are.
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It took over six months for the Biden administration to finally respond to a congressional request for these numbers. The deputy director for ICE “apologized” for the delay.
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As bad as these numbers are, the reality may be even worse. The Biden-Harris administration is cooking the books to make the border crisis not look as bad as it is. For example, in mid-September, retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke testified how the Biden administration ordered him not to publicize the arrests of illegal border crossers identified as having ties to terrorism.
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Democrats quickly pointed out that some of these criminals came in before the Biden administration. But the administration’s letter to Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican didn’t provide a breakdown of how many came through under Biden-Harris. The administration policy, with its limited background checks and overwhelmed agents, has a much higher error rate compared to Trump’s remain-in-Mexico approach. Background checks are ineffective if officials don’t even contact the immigrant’s home country.
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Even if illegal immigrants weren’t committing crimes at higher rates than the general population, the American people have a right to expect those entering this country to be screened in order to prevent more murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and thieves from entering the country. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have the authority to call for expedited extradition for criminal illegal aliens in the U.S., but they have only moved to make extradition more difficult.
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John R. Lott, Jr., “The New Data on Migrant Crime,” Real Clear Politics, October 1, 2024.
During the first hour of WMAL’s The Vince Coglianese Show with Mary Katherine Hamm on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, Vince mentioned our research on the problem with official crime statistics. See also Dr. Lott’s op-ed at the Wall Street Journal titled “The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It: The decline in reported crimes is a function of less reporting, not less crime.”
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about Kamala Harris’ flip-flops on several key policy issues.
(Tuesday, September 3, 2024)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Meyer on Oregon’s KMED about the latest Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia. They also discussed errors in the FBI’s Active Shooting Reports and the truth about the crime explosion. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at The Federalist (“CDC, FBI Working To Hide Data Showing Shootings Stopped By Good Guys With Guns“) and his op-ed piece at the New York Post (“Democrats are hiding the rise in violent crime with tricky statistics“).
(Thursday, September 5, 2024, from 7:40 to 8:01 AM PT)
The murder rate in 2019 was 5.168 and 2023 in 5.748, an 11.23% increase. As noted before, the Centers for Disease Control showed an increase in ~murders (homicide, excluding legal intervention) from 2020 to 2022 while the FBI data shows a drop. The CDC data showed a 27.96% increase from 2019 (5.83) to 2022 (7.46). The CDC data isn’t yet available for 2023. We will update the CDC results once the data is made available.
By the way, the FBI has also gone back and revised its earlier data and now shows that the murder rate increased by 6.2% from 2021 to 2022.
Table_1_Crime_in_the_United_States_by_Volume_and_Rate_per_100000_Inhabitants_2004-2023RDownload
Tangle conducted individual interviews with the left wing Brennan Center’s Ames Grawert, The Manhattan Institutes’ Robert VerBruggen, and CPRC’s Dr. John Lott on the issue of whether crime is increasing. It would have been much more useful if everyone was in the same discussion so that Dr. Lott could respond directly to Grawert’s claims. Grawert focuses on the FBI reported crime data, claiming it is the gold standard. Discussions about why the FBI’s reported crime data differs from the Bureau of Justice Statistics data on both reported and total crimes would have been useful.
Is-crime-getting-better-or-worse_DownloadSeptember 27, 2024.
Dr. John Lott Jr. talked to Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden on The Chuck & Julie Show about the latest school shooting in Barrow County, Georgia, and Dr. Lott’s new piece at The Federalist titled “CDC, FBI Working To Hide Data Showing Shootings Stopped By Good Guys With Guns“. They also discussed the alarming reality behind rising crime rates. See also Dr. Lott’s new op-ed piece at the New York Post titled “Democrats are hiding the rise in violent crime with tricky statistics.”
(Wednesday, September 4, 2024, from 3:38 to 3:58 PM MT)
The Biden-Harris administration has released into the U.S. communities a significant number of noncitizens with serious criminal backgrounds, including 13,099 convicted of murder and 1,845 accused of murder, alongside hundreds of thousands more convicted or facing charges for other crimes, as of recent data.
Here is the information from ICE.
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Andrea Kaye Show on San Diego’s giant 50,000-watt KCBQ radio station to discuss the latest school shooting in Georgia, and the gun control policies that the Democrats had pursued following the shooting. See also our research titled “Schools that Allow Teachers to Carry Guns are Extremely Safe.”
(Wednesday, September 4, 2024, from 6:36 to 6:50 PM PT)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about Kamala Harris’s running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his radical leftism. They also discussed Tim Walz’s lies on gun control and his false claims that he carried weapons “in war.”
(Thursday, August 8, 2024)
A Good Samaritan shot a wanted man attempting to carjack a woman and her child on Friday.
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According to Major Harold Heatley with the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened at Lee’s Kar-Go when the suspect, identified as Cody Dailey, 30, “attempted to carjack a truck, assaulted the female driver of the vehicle and told her [four year old] child that was in the vehicle, ‘I’m going to rape your mommy.’”
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Multiple citizens heard the victim screaming and came to her aid, and one of those citizens was armed with his 9mm handgun.
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The armed Good Samaritan approached Dailey and gave commands, but Dailey charged and shoved the man to the ground.
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Dailey continued approaching the armed citizen, and that was when the citizen shot the suspect, hitting him in the chest. . . .
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Kassidy Brown, “Good Samaritan shoots man attempting to carjack woman and child,” WDBJ Channel 7, Aug. 23, 2024.
“Thank goodness for the good Samaritans that came to the victims’ aid during her time of need. We are grateful for their desire to intercede on her behalf, had they not acted this could have been a very different outcome,” Tazewell County Sheriff Brian Hieatt said. . . .
Kassidy Brown and Jordan Gartner, “‘Thank goodness’: Good Samaritan shoots man attempting to carjack woman with child in car,” KKTV Channel 11, August 23, 2024.
The woman was injured in the attack. The attempted carjacker and rapist was shot after he knocked the good Samaritan to the ground, but the attempted carjacker and rapist is in “stable” condition in the hospital. The name of the good Samaritan has not been released.
Dr. John Lott was on the Fact Vs Fiction Panel at the Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit (G.O.A.L.S.) in Knoxville, TN with William Kirk, Shermichael Singleton, Anthony Miranda, Jared Yanis, and Braden Langley.
(Saturday, August 17, 2024)
CPRC’s Senior Fellow Nikki Goeser speaks at Gun Owners of America about the language used by gun control advocates and how to argue against it (Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit 2024 in Knoxville, TN.). She discusses how gun control can result in more deaths.
Gun Owners of America. Saturday August 17, 2024 (Made In Tennessee Forum)
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on the Armed American Radio show about his talk and a panel he attended at the Gun Owners of America’s National Convention in Knoxville, Tennessee.
(Sunday, August 18, 2024, from 9:35 to 9:45 PM ET)
CPRC’s Nikki Goeser talks with Cam Edwards about why she won’t be voting for Kamala Harris for President.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
A new Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,293 American adults. Men live in households owning guns at a higher rate than women. Older people over 65 are more likely to own guns. Whites, Hispanics, and other own guns at the same rate. About one-third of Democrats live in households with guns, but that is about 13 percentage points less than Republicans. Married people, those with children, a high school education, and earn between $35,000 and $50,000 own guns own guns at the highest rates.
American gun owners by a feel that guns make them feel safe versus less safe by a 10-to-1 ratio. For men, the ratio is 11.6-to-1. For women, it is 8.9-to-1. Hispanics have the highest ratio of 15.6-to-1 and blacks the lowest at 4.6-to-1. There is little difference based on whether someone is married or has children. Those with some college, those who made under $30,000, and those between $100,000 and $200,000 have the highest ratios.
Guns-August-15-and-18-19-2024Download
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Bill Martinez Show to discuss the misunderstanding of what the crime statistics measure and the hiding of the rise in crime. The American people are being misled on crime statistics because many property crimes are being underreported, and the most common reason for not reporting is that most victims believe that charges will not be filed. See also Dr. Lott’s op-ed at the Wall Street Journal titled “The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It.”
(Thursday, August 8, 2024, from 9:06 to 9:29 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott joined John Reid on WRVA’s radio show to discuss why statistics indicating that crime rates are in decline are misleading. See also Dr. Lott’s new op-ed piece at the New York Post titled “Democrats are hiding the rise in violent crime with tricky statistics.”
(Monday, August 12, 2024, from 9:05 to 9:18 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at Real Clear Politics. It was republished at The Center Square, The Highland County Press (Hillsboro, Ohio), The Ohio Star, The Herald Review (Sierra Vista, AZ),
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Law enforcement in the United States has collapsed. Americans in many parts of the country see that products at CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart stores are behind plexiglass, that you must call a clerk to unlock the glass and then wait while you read and examine the different packages. People know these companies have no choice. Americans know that crime is rising, but the true collapse in law enforcement, particularly in large cities, is without precedent.
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A Gallup survey last November showed that 92% of Republicans and even 58% of Democrats believed that crime was rising. In a series of surveys from March 2023 to April 2024, Rasmussen Reports finds a remarkably constant percentage of Americans who believe that violent crime is getting worse – 60% to 61%. Roughly four times as many people think violent crime is rising rather than getting better.
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But the collapse may be even greater than most people realize.
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FBI data shows arrest rates plummeted over the last few years, starting in 2020. For cities with over 1 million people, the arrest rate for reported violent crime averaged 41% in the 24 years from 1996 to 2019, but it dropped to 20.3% in 2022 – a 50% drop. The lowest arrest rate in the preceding 24 years before COVID-19 was 32.6%. That is still 61% higher than the rate in 2022.
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The arrest rate for murder fell by 37%, rape by 58%, robbery by 50%, and aggravated assault by 54%.
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The collapse in the arrest rate for property crime is even more dramatic. The average arrest rate for reported property crime fell from an average of 13% in the 25 years from 1996 to 2021 to 4.5% – a 64% drop. The lowest arrest rate in the preceding 24 years between 1996 and 2019 was 12%. The arrest rate in 2022 was still 61% lower than the previous low rate. The drop in reported larceny theft, the largest property crime category, is dramatic. It declines from an average arrest rate of 14.6% to just 3.8% – a 75% drop.
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But things are even worse than these numbers indicate. All these numbers are from the FBI’s look at reported crimes, and as law enforcement has collapsed, the rate at which crimes have gone unreported has increased. Thus, the effective drop in the arrest rate for crime is even greater than these already stark numbers show. Since property crimes are reported less often than violent crimes, the effective arrest rate for all property crimes or all larceny thefts is extremely low.
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The number of reported crimes has fallen for other reasons. Over the past few years, as the number of police has fallen because of cuts in budgets and a slew of retirements, police departments nationwide – from Charlottesville and Henrico County, Virginia, to Chicago, to Olympia, Washington – stopped responding to non-emergency 911 calls. Instead of police coming out, people can still go to the police station.
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If you look at arrests as a percentage of all crime (reported and unreported), in these large cities only 8% of all violent crime and 1% of all property crime results in an arrest.
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In addition, if there has been a simultaneous drop in the rate at which criminals have been charged and prosecuted, as we have seen with many progressive prosecutors, the punishment rate has dropped even more.
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In her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris claimed she was a tough-on-crime prosecutor. But she has absolutely no criticism of law enforcement in these Democrat-controlled large cities.
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Despite what the Democrats and the news media keep claiming, the Bureau of Justice Statistics measure of total crime (reported and unreported) has soared under the Biden-Harris administration. The Democrats and the news media only cite the FBI count of reported crime, despite more than half of police departments either not reporting any data or reporting only partial data to the FBI.
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But here is the puzzle: Even if Democrats and the news media want to rely solely on the FBI, the FBI data shows the arrest rates plummeting to unprecedented levels. How can they then ignore the collapse of law enforcement? Why is it surprising that crime rates are rising?
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John R. Lott Jr. is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. He served as senior adviser for research and statistics in the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department
John R. Lott, Jr., “Law Enforcement Collapse Masks Rising Crime Rates,” Real Clear Politics, August 28, 2024.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s FBI International is no different (Season 3, Episode 12, May 14, 2024). This episode shows people in a high tech theft ring using machine guns to kill FBI agents and a witness who saw a murder.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type, and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
FBI International, Season 3, Episode 12, May 14, 2024
Instead of relying on incomplete FBI data, Republicans point to the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, which John Lott, founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, tells RCP is the “gold standard” in crime statistics because it includes both reported and unreported crime. In 2022, it found that only 42% of crimes are reported to police.
The NCVS found that while the FBI registered a 2% drop in overall violent crime from 2021 to 2022, there was actually a 42% increase in violent crime. . . .
Jonathan Draeger, “RNC Speakers Take Aim at Crime in the Biden Era,” Real Clear Politics, July 17, 2024.
As for reporting crime statistics, there seems to be a problem far beyond Oakland. John Lott wrote for the Journal in April:
Americans think crime is on the rise, but the media keep telling them they’re wrong… Americans aren’t mistaken. News reports fail to take into account that many victims aren’t reporting crimes to the police, especially since the pandemic.
The U.S. has two measures of crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting program counts the number of crimes reported to police every year. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, in its National Crime Victimization Survey, asks some 240,000 people a year whether they have been victims of a crime. The two measures have diverged since 2020: The FBI has been reporting less crime, while more people say they have been victims.
The divergence is due to several reasons. In 2022, 31% of police departments nationwide, including Los Angeles and New York, didn’t report crime data to the FBI. In addition, in cities from Baltimore to Nashville, Tenn., the FBI is undercounting crimes those jurisdictions reported.
Another reason crimes reported to the police are falling is that arrest rates are plummeting. If victims don’t believe criminals will be caught and punished, they won’t bother reporting them.
James Freeman, “Lies, Damn Lies, and Crime Statistics,” Wall Street Journal, July 11, 2024.
Gun control groups campaign against right-to-carry laws by claiming that guns carried in public pose a substantial threat to public safety, and that concealed carry permitting laws lead to more violent crime, not less. Giffords, for instance, alleges that “the dangers of permissive public carry laws” include an increase in gun thefts and “other undesirable outcomes,” with absolutely no counterbalancing public safety benefits.
Professor Carl Moody and Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) have just released an updated paper, How Does Concealed Carrying of Weapons Affect Violent Crime? (May 31, 2024). These researchers examined information related to claims that carry concealed weapons (CCW) laws indirectly increase violent crime by driving up firearm thefts or by decreasing police effectiveness. Using a unique new data set that employs the number of permit holders as the variable of interest, the authors found no evidence that CCW laws are associated with significant increases in gun thefts or impact the effectiveness of police.
TTAG Contributor, “Carry Laws Don’t Increase Gun Theft or Gun Crimes,” The Truth About Guns, July 14, 2024.
The first study was conducted by Dr. John Lott, a former University of Chicago economist and current director of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Lott is also the author of More Guns, Less Crime and The War on Guns, both of which lay out his arguments against the efficacy of gun control. Lott’s work is cited by most gun rights activist groups and many pro-gun politicians. Lott himself frequently testifies before legislative bodies and debates gun policy in the media.
The second study comes from Everytown for Gun Safety. Everytown is a leading gun control advocacy group founded and funded by former New York City Mayor and multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg also funds the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Violence Solutions, a major gun control think tank, the Moms Demand Action group, and dozens of anti-gun politicians at every level. Bloomberg is perhaps the country’s most ardent and engaged gun control activist.
These two studies disagree on almost everything, including what constitutes a “gun free zone.” Lott defines them as places classified by police or military policy “where it is illegal to carry a permitted concealed handgun, places that are posted as not allowing a permitted concealed handgun, places where ‘general citizens’ are not allowed to obtain permits, or where permits are either not issued to any general citizens or to only a very tiny selective segment.” Bruen ended that last one in 2022, but it’s still part of the study.
The Everytown definition is much simpler. Gun free zones, the study says, are “areas where civilians are prohibited from carrying firearms and there is not a regular armed law enforcement presence.” Everytown’s narrower definition partially accounts for the disparity between the two studies’ conclusions. . . .
William Lawson, “Do Gun Free Zones Keep Us Safe?” The Maglife, July 2, 2024.
Professor Carl Moody and Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) have just released an updated paper, How Does Concealed Carrying of Weapons Affect Violent Crime? (May 31, 2024). These researchers examined information related to claims that carry concealed weapons (CCW) laws indirectly increase violent crime by driving up firearm thefts or by decreasing police effectiveness. Using a unique new data set that employs the number of permit holders as the variable of interest, the authors found no evidence that CCW laws are associated with significant increases in gun thefts or impact the effectiveness of police.
On gun thefts generally, an existing government source on how criminals obtain their firearms suggests that only a small amount of crime guns are acquired by theft. A Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Source and Use of Firearms Involved in Crimes: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016 (Jan. 2019) shows that only 6.4% of state and federal prisoners who had possessed a firearm during the offense for which they were serving time listed “theft” (burglaries, thefts from retail sources or a family/friend, or “other”) as their gun source.
Previous literature from the CPRC indicates that CCW permit-holders are unlikely to be violent criminals – in fact, as a class they tend towards the extreme opposite end of the law-abiding spectrum. In jurisdictions where information on crimes and permits is available, it shows that permit-holders are less likely to drive recklessly or under the influence than non-permittees, and permit-holders are “convicted of firearms-related violations at one-twelfth the rate of police officers.”
Professor Moody and Dr. Lott analyzed the theft question (whether CCW permit holders are a significant source of stolen guns beyond the amount expected due to the existing burglary rate) using variables that included the number of CCW permits (and a dummy variable for constitutional carry laws), the number of stolen guns, and the burglary rate as a control. “Stolen guns,” they conclude, “are apparently independent of CCW permits or permitless carrying.” The evidence revealed that neither the number of CCW permits nor the effect of constitutional carry laws had a significant impact on the rate at which guns are stolen. Constitutional carry states do not have significantly higher gun theft rates but, because most of the constitutional carry laws are relatively recent (since 2015), “it may be too early to draw any conclusions” on their impact.
The second issue examined was whether CCW permit-holders were associated with declines in police effectiveness, measured as the clearance rate of violent crimes. Variables included the clearance (arrest) rates and the number of crimes recorded for several given violent crimes types. Here, too, the analysis showed that “police effectiveness is unrelated to either the number of CCW permits and or existence of constitutional carry laws.”
These results confirm what many in the Second Amendment community know already – that despite all the spurious rationalizations advanced against lawful carrying, CCW permittees and others carrying responsibly are not the ones who threaten public safety or produce more crime.
Staff, “Crime Prevention Research Center: Carry Laws Don’t Increase Gun Theft, Decrease Police Effectiveness,” NRA-ILA, July 8, 2024.
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at Townhall.
During Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s testimony on Monday before the House Oversight Committee, Democrats continually pushed for gun control, with Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) going so far as asking if Americans’ ownership of guns is a safety threat. Cheatle may now have resigned, but the reaction to her testimony still tells us what Democrats learned from the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
The AR-15 used by the murderer was referred to as an “assault weapon” and “weapon of war.” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) complained that we “allow AR-15s to be purchased with abandon, promiscuously, all over the country.” The implication was clearly that getting rid of AR-15s and other “assault weapons” could have prevented the attack on former President Donald Trump.
The AR-15 is functionally identical to a small caliber semi-automatic hunting rifle. These guns fire one bullet per pull of the trigger, unlike a military weapon. The AR-15’s .223-inch rounds are actually small compared with what is usually used to hunt deer. Many states prohibit using .223-inch bullets out of concern that the animal will suffer from its wounds rather than experiencing a quick death.
If the murderer in Butler, Pennsylvania, had used a standard deer hunting rifle, instead of simply piercing Trump’s ear, he might have lost his ear. The .30-06 bullet is about 40 percent larger than the .223 caliber bullet used in the AR-15, with up to 2.3 times the muzzle energy of the .223. These much larger bullets create a shock wave that liquifies parts of the body that it doesn’t directly touch.
Even the Associate Press Stylebook, which news media outlets across the country rely on, now recognizes that “AR- or AK-style rifles designed for the civilian market” are fundamentally different from military weapons. “Avoid assault rifle and assault weapon, which are highly politicized terms,” the AP notes.
“The preferred term for a rifle that fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled, and automatically reloads for a subsequent shot, is a semi-automatic rifle,” notes their Stylebook. “Avoid assault rifle and assault weapon, which are highly politicized terms that generally refer to AR- or AK-style rifles designed for the civilian market, but convey little meaning about the actual functions of the weapon.”
The Democrats in the hearing have previously declared that the federal assault weapon ban from 1994-2004 reduced mass public shootings. The claim relies on one researcher’s unique definition of mass public shootings. But there was no drop in the number of attacks with “assault weapons,” and virtually no change in total mass shootings. Even studies funded by the Clinton administration couldn’t find statistically significant changes in the number of attacks. This shouldn’t be surprising, as rifles are rarely used in attacks. Between January 1, 1998, and October 25, 2023, 52.5 percent of mass public shootings used solely handguns, and 16.8 percent used only rifles of any type. Only 2.8 percent of all murders involve any type of rifle.
Rep. Connolly might want to suggest that gun ownership endangers safety, but the problem is much more complicated. When Connolly pushed Cheatle about whether guns like the AR-15 “make your job easier or harder,” she answered that any weapon made the Secret Service’s job more difficult. But anyone listening to Cheatle’s testimony on Monday knows that there were real, inexcusable failures by the Secret Service that have nothing to do with gun control. Extraordinarily, both the Republican chair and Democrat ranking member on the Oversight & Accountability Committee signed a joint letter calling on Cheatle to resign.
Guns make society safer when police aren’t present to protect victims. Every place in the world that has banned all guns or all handguns has seen murder rates go up. If guns on net endanger safety, it ought to be easy to find a place where a ban has been effective.
With Iran plotting to assassinate Trump, does anyone think that a complete ban on all guns, including hunting rifles, would have stopped an Iranian assassin?
It’s good that The Associated Press is more precise and less alarmist in its language. Let’s hope that Congressional Democrats take note and learn something about the guns they seek to ban.
John R. Lott, Jr., “Democrats Learned the Wrong Lesson From the Attempted Assassination of President Trump,” Townhall.com, July 24, 2024.
Television show bias against guns is never-ending. Except for a couple of episodes on Paramount’s Yellowstone, you won’t see an entertainment television show with a civilian successfully using a gun defensively. Instead, something always seems to go wrong when guns are used defensively (from being fatally shot by the criminal without stopping the crime to getting in the way of police to continually having the gun stolen and use in a crime to it being used in an accidental shooting). In fact, after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision earlier this year, television shows seem to be showing more bad defensive gun uses than ever before.
This episode of ABC’s “The Rookie” is no different (Season 6, Episode 7, April 30, 2024). This episode has an example of a young woman with a concealed handgun permit being berated by a police officer and then fired as a nanny for having a permitted concealed handgun. The implication is that only trained police officers should have a gun in the home.
It is somewhat depressing that this type of misinformation was seen by 4.5 million viewers. In our collection of 124 cases where armed civilians have stopped active shooting attacks, there is not one case that corresponds to the examples shown in these various TV shows where a concealed carry permit holder accidentally shoots a bystander or where they caused a bystander to be shot.
Real Clear Investigations: There Are Far More Defensive Gun Uses Than Murders in America. Here’s Why You Rarely Hear of Them
Real Clear Politics: Faulty FBI Data Obscures Successful Defensive Gun Use
Real Clear Investigations: How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers — and Media Play Along
More examples of these types of shows are available here.
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.
Dr. John Lott talked to the guest host Jim Hanson on America First with Sebastian Gorka about Biden’s false claim about guns killing kids more than anything else.
(Friday, July 12, 2024)
Except for liberals, likely American voters of all categories think the rhetoric of Biden’s campaign that Trump is “an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs” led to Trump’s attempted assassination. In fact, overall likely voters by an almost 2-to-1 margin (61%-to-31%) agree. Even Democrats believe by a 46%-to-43% margin that this rhetoric led to the attempted assassination. Generally, those with lower incomes and less education were more likely to agree that the rhetoric caused the attack.
Rhetoric-on-Attempted-AssasinationDownload
People remember how Kamala Harris urged people to donate to the MN Freedom Fund on June 1, 2020, to help bail out the George Floyd rioters. Harris strongly supported removing funds from police and moving the funds to welfare, housing, health care, and other benefits.
Kamala Harris on ABC (June 8, 2020) claimed: “we have confused the idea that to achieve safety you put more cops on the street instead of understanding to achieve safe and healthy communities you put more resources into the public education system of those communities into affordable housing and to home ownership into access to capital for small businesses access to health care regardless of how much money people have that’s how you achieve safe and healthy communities and so we really do need to understand and reimagine what and how we can actually make and help make communities safe.”
Kamala Harris in Michigan (September 22, 2020) said: “Let’s talk about America’s failure when it comes to understanding how you create safe communities. And by that I mean this. It is outdated, it is wrongheaded thinking to think that the only way you’re going to get communities to be safe is to put more police officers on the street. What we have to do and what we will do is reimagine public safety. In the way that you understand you want a safe community, you have to invest in the health and wellbeing of that community..”
According to the Washington Post, four people familiar with the requests said top Secret Service officials denied repeated requests by Trump’s Secret Service security detail for more security at Trump events. Real Clear Politics reporter Susan Crabtree writes: “Secret Services resources were diverted to Jill Biden’s event and away from Trump’s because they followed agency protocol applying to Trump as a former president, according to two sources within the Secret Service community. There were also many supplemental agents from different field officers (not Trump’s regular detail) providing security at the rally because Trump’s regular detail has been overworked (some working 7 days straight), and only two counter-snipers.“
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, ABC’s’ Will Trent is no different (Season 2, Episode 1, February 20, 2024). This episode shows criminals using a machine gun to stop a blackmail victim from talking to the police.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type, and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
Will Trent, Season 2, Episode 1, February 20, 2024
Deland, Florida, April 1, 2024 (WFTV.com)
Deputies responded to Dixie’s Gentlemen’s Club along US-17 near DeLand shortly before 2 a.m…
Detectives said Collins pulled a gun on another man outside the nightclub, and believe that man fired a shot at Collins’ vehicle in self-defense.
The man who fired the gun is not facing any charges at this point, according to Volusia Sheriff’s Office…
WFTV.com News Staff, “Man fires gun in self defense outside DeLand gentlemen’s club, deputies say,” WFTV.com, April 1, 2024.
Memphis, Tennessee, April 1, 2024 (WREG)
The standoff at the Whitehaven apartment is over…
Preliminary information indicated that the male suspect barricaded himself inside an apartment after firing shots at two victims.
After further investigation, it has been determined that the second victim who was not injured during the initial altercation returned fire, striking the man located inside the apartment who was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
No charges have been filed and MPD said the investigation is ongoing…
David Royer, Raven Moore, and Ashley Paul, “Standoff at Whitehaven apartment over, shooting suspect dead,” WREG, April 1, 2024.
Norway, Maine, April 1, 2024 (WGME)
A Maine woman has been arrested after a neighbor discovered her breaking into a home in Norway and held her at gunpoint until police arrived, according to the Sun Journal…
The Sun Journal reports that a man heard a banging noise followed by glass breaking at his neighbor’s home on King St. on Monday.
He reportedly picked up a handgun and went to investigate. According to the Sun Journal, he discovered the suspect trying to break into the home. She stopped and they waited for the police to arrive…
Ariana St Pierre, “Neighbor reportedly holds Maine burglary suspect at gunpoint until police arrive,” WGME, April 3, 2024.
Murray, Utah, April 3, 2024 (FOX 13 Salt Lake City)
Police responded to reports of a shooting at 10:45 p.m. on April 3 in the parking lot of EOS Fitness at 5550 South 900 East in Murray. When they arrived, they found the victim with gunshot wounds…
Documents report Mila approached the victim as she was walking to her car and then she was seen a few minutes later on surveillance footage limping back towards the gym.
Through witness interviews, statements and video, investigators discovered the woman possessed a concealed carry permit and exchanged fire with Mila after he demanded, at gunpoint, that she give him her car keys…
Laura Polacheck, “Woman with concealed carry permit shot suspect trying to steal car, officials say,” FOX 13 Salt Lake City, April 19, 2024.
Redlands, California, April 5, 2024 (Patch)
An altercation last week in Redlands ended with a man being shot, but no arrest was made, police said.
At about 1:30 p.m. Friday, paramedics were called to the shooting near Redlands Boulevard and New York Street. Emergency crews found a 40-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds while the shooter remained at the scene, according to the Redlands Police Department.
According to witnesses, the victim confronted the suspect on Park Avenue, south of Redlands Boulevard, “and a physical altercation occurred,” police said.
During the altercation, the suspect fired several shots, wounding the victim…
The shooter was taken into custody and questioned before being released.
“[The shooter] was in lawful possession of the firearm, which was collected at the scene,” police said. “The investigation is continuing, and a report will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office to determine if charges are warranted.”…
Toni McAllister, “Physical Altercation Leads To Shooting In Redlands, Suspect Questioned,” Patch, April 8, 2024.
Sparks, Nevada, April 6, 2024 (2 News Nevada)
Sparks Police say a fatal shooting earlier this month was justified.
Officers responded to the parking garage at the Nugget just before 6 a.m. on April 6th and found a man, later identified as Vincent Wilks shot dead.
After investigating, detectives say Nicholas Galyon shot Wilks after he pointed a gun at him during a drug deal.
Police say Galyon was not involved in the deal but had driven someone to the parking garage who was involved…
2 News Nevada Staff, “Sparks Police: Deadly Weekend Shooting Was Justified,” 2 News Nevada, April 18, 2024.
Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, April 7, 2024 (Local10.com)
BSO deputies and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue said they responded to a shooting call near the 3100 block of Northwest 41st Street last Sunday around 11 a.m…
According to witnesses, Whittle attempted to fight Brown over an ongoing feud, BSO said.
During the fight, another subject attempted to defuse the fight when Whittle pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots, according to detectives.
The subject, who was also armed, then pulled out his weapon and returned fire, deputies confirmed.
The subject, who has not been identified by authorities, was taken into custody for questioning and later released…
Ryan Mackey, “Deputies ID victims in fatal Lauderdale Lakes double shooting,” Local10.com, April 10, 2024.
Macon, Georgia, April 9, 2024 (13WMAZ)
It happened at the Riverview Hotel, located at 205 Broadway in south Macon just after 3 a.m.
36-year-old Eric Ivan Searcy-Bryson was trying to break into a parked Mercedes Sedan where a person was sleeping. When the person inside woke up to him trying to break in they shot Searcy-Bryson. He was taken to Atrium Health Navicent where he was later pronounced dead.
No one else was injured in the shooting…
13WMAZ Staff, “BSO: 36-year-old man shot and killed after trying to break into a car at a Macon hotel,” 13WMAZ, April 9, 2024.
Hialeah, Florida, April 10, 2024 (NBC Miami)
Hialeah Police officials said officers responded to a call of a shooting in the 4000 block of West 13th Lane around 6:40 a.m. and found a man dead at the scene.
Police spokesperson Eddie Rodriguez said the man who died, identified as 26-year-old Christian Rueda, arrived at his ex’s place and saw another man leaving the house…
“During the fight, the ex-boyfriend continues to attack this male. The male advises him several times that he is armed and to stop the attack, and (Rueda) continues to attack this male that’s leaving the house,” Rodriguez said. “The male takes out a firearm and the ex-boyfriend grabs the firearm, and now they’re wrestling for this firearm. They’re wrestling back and forth when the gun goes off.”
Rueda was shot in the chest, killing him, police said…
Police later determined the shooting was self-defense and justifiable, and that Huggins had a legally concealed gun, officials said in a news release…
NBC6 and Amanda Plasencia, “Man with history of stalking ex fatally shot while fighting with another man: Hialeah Police,” NBC Miami, April 10, 2024.
Boerne, Texas, April 12, 2024 (KSAT.com)
The incident took place outside an apartment complex in the 8700 block of Starr Ranch located off Interstate 10 near Fair Oaks Parkway.
According to the affidavit, Duarte was sitting in the back seat conducting the sale of the gun when he allegedly pointed the gun at one of the men, who pushed the gun away and ran out of the vehicle.
The driver of the other vehicle told police he saw Duarte then point the gun at him, and that is when he grabbed his own gun and fired multiple rounds.
The driver told Bexar County Sheriff Office investigators that his friend then jumped back into his vehicle, and as they drove off he fired a few more rounds.
As soon as they were away from the apartment complex, the driver called 911 to report that he believed he had shot someone after being robbed…
Erica Hernandez, “San Antonio man found not guilty of murder in 2022 faces new murder charge in separate incident,” KSAT.com, April 24, 2024.
Hampton, Virginia, April 12, 2024 (The Virginian-Pilot)
Police responded to an area near the intersection of Jordan Drive and Roxbury Terrace following a report of shots fired at 2:03 p.m. While the officers were there, another call came in referencing a gunshot victim showing up to a hospital, police said in a news release.
The victim was a man from Newport News who had life-threatening injuries. Investigators believe he was in the area identified by the original 911 caller when someone began firing at him, police said, and the man then returned fire.
No one else was injured in the shooting. Police have not shared any further information about the shooter.
Gavin Stone, “Man seriously injured in Hampton shooting,” The Virginian-Pilot, April 12, 2024.
Jonesboro, Arkansas, April 12, 2024 (K8 News)
According to a news release, shortly before 10 p.m. on April 12, officers with the Jonesboro Police Department responded to the Race Street Market at the corner of Richardson Drive and Race Street about a shooting…
Sally Smith, public information specialist for JPD, said Monday, April 15 that Bailey was suspected in “the initial robbery that took place prior to the shooting.”
On Tuesday, April 16, JPD explained in a news release that Bailey and Russell exchanged gunfire and Bailey was killed as a result.
Smith told K8 News that Russell had acted in self-defense during the robbery…
Jorge Quiquivix and K8 Newsdesk, “Police: Victim acted in self-defense in fatal shooting,” K8 News, April 16, 2024.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, April 15, 2024 (The Advocate)
A Monday shooting that left two dead in the parking lot of an Airline Highway motel was determined to be justified, a Baton Rouge police spokesman said Tuesday afternoon.
The shooting happened shortly before 8:15 p.m. outside the Fountain Motel at 9201 Airline Highway. According to a news release, Michael Beverly, 28, approached several people in the parking lot and began shooting at them with a handgun. One person retrieved a handgun and fired back at Beverly, who died at the scene from gunshot wounds.
Another man who has not been publicly identified was also killed in the crossfire. It is unclear who fired the shot that killed him, police said.
The person who returned fire at Beverly was uninjured and waited at the scene for police to arrive…
Gabby Jimenez, “Airline Highway motel shooting that left 2 people dead was justified, Baton Rouge police say,” The Advocate, April 16, 2024.
Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2024 (ABC7 Chicago)
A 35-year-old man who is a CCL holder was sitting on a curb with another person in the 500-block of South Jefferson Street at about 2:42 a.m. when police said someone in a dark-colored sedan fired shots.
The man, who is a CCL holder, took out a handgun and returned fire, police said.
No one was injured and no one is in custody, police said.
ABC7 Chicago Digital Team, “CCL holder involved in shootout outside downtown Greyhound bus station, Chicago police say,” ABC7 Chicago, April 15, 2024.
Savannah, Georgia, April 15, 2024 (WJCL)
It happened on the 1900 block of E. President Street…
After reviewing evidence and speaking to witnesses, detectives say the gunfire exchange was the result of a group altercation that began at a business.
Lawton was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and transported to the Chatham County Detention Center…
Graham Cawthon, “Police: Victim in late-night Savannah shooting now facing charges,” WJCL, April 16, 2024.
Memphis, Tennessee, April 15, 2024 (New York Post)
Reginald Cook, 26, first tried to rob the Shell gas station on Elvis Presley Boulevard, in Memphis, at around 2:00 a.m. on Monday, local WREG reports.
The suspect had entered the store to make a purchase, but later demanded money from the cashier, who refused, according to the police affidavit.
Cook promptly left, but he returned 30 minutes later to demand the money again — this time reaching into his pockets to make it seem as though he had a weapon, according to the cashier’s testimony.
After the second unsuccessful robbery, police said Cook came back with a shorter temper and a five-foot snake wrapped around his neck.
“Give me the damn money,” Cook allegedly shouted to the frightened cashier.
As Cook reached into his backpack — implying again that he was about to arm himself — the cashier pulled out his own weapon in self-defense, the affidavit states…
Ronny Reyes, “Tennessee man tried to rob gas station with 5-foot-long snake after 2 failed attempts: cops,” New York Post, April 18, 2024.
Deltona, Florida, April 18, 2024 (ClickOrlando.com)
A 37-year-old Deltona man was shot to death by another driver Thursday night in a self-defense road-rage incident in Volusia County, deputies said.
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office on Friday said Kenyon Ashley was fatally shot around 9 p.m. on Fisher Drive near Leland Drive…
The driver said he passed a white Dodge Charger that had slowed down in front of him on DeBary Avenue, according to officials. After passing the car, he said the Charger began following him closely with its high beams on, a sheriff’s office news release stated.
The man said the Charger backed off his vehicle but reappeared when he turned off Providence Boulevard onto Fisher Drive, according to the news release. He said the driver then sped up, drove alongside him and pulled in front of him to cut him off, sheriff’s officials stated.
According to authorities, the driver said Ashley then got out of the vehicle and approached him, yelling at him while carrying a gun. The driver said when Ashley raised his gun, he feared for his life and fired several rounds at him, officials stated.
An independent witness also provided a full account of the incident, which matched the shooter’s, sheriff’s officials said…
Anthony Talcott, “Driver fatally shot gunman in self-defense during road rage incident in Deltona, deputies say,” ClickOrlando.com, April 19, 2024.
Chicopee, Massachusetts, April 18, 2024 (WWLP.com)
According to police, officers were called to the area of 1296 Montgomery Street around 6:15 p.m. Thursday for a shooting incident. The Hampden District Attorney’s Office said that police were called due to a report of an attempted armed robbery with shots fired. Upon arrival, police found two men, one suffering from a gunshot wound.
Hampden District Attorney’s Spokesperson Jim Leyon told 22News that 53-year-old Robert Papalardo of South Hadley allegedly attempted to rob a store when gunshots were fired. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center where he died due to his injuries…
John Budenas and Ashley Shook, “South Hadley man killed after allegedly attempting to rob Chicopee store,” WWLP.com, April 19, 2024.
Muncie, Indiana, April 19, 2024 (Muncie Star Press)
City police were sent to KT Pawn, 424 E. 13th St., after dispatchers received a related call at 9:17 a.m. Friday.
According to Deputy Police Chief Melissa Criswell, the caller reported a man entered the business “armed with a blunt instrument and attacked the two employees, injuring both.”
One of the employees then shot the alleged intruder, Criswell said…
Douglas Walker, “Muncie police: Man shot during disturbance in pawn shop,” Muncie Star Press, April 19, 2024.
Terre Haute, Indiana, April 20, 2024 (FOX 59)
The incident happened around 10 p.m. in Candlewood Circle. Ring camera footage from the victim shows the man arriving in his driveway when he notices a red truck following him out in the street. That truck was driven by Dustin L. Roecker, a 35-year-old man from Bloomington, Vigo County Sheriff’s officials said.
Roecker suddenly speeds directly at the victim, crashing into him and his vehicle. The victim jumped as the truck approached him, firing about 10 shots into the truck. Roecker, who was naked, leaped out of the window of his truck before he ran away…
Roecker was charged with attempted murder, auto theft, criminal recklessness, and resisting law enforcement…
Will Price, “WATCH: Indiana man shoots at naked attacker,” FOX 59, April 23, 2024.
Dallas, Texas, April 21, 2024 (IrvingWeekly)
On April 21, 2024, at approximately 9:40 p.m., Dallas Police responded to an assist call in the 700 block of Cantregral Street in Old East Dallas.
According to preliminary findings, a private investigator was attempting to apprehend the suspect, 29-year-old Kaland Spencer for outstanding warrants. During the confrontation, the investigator discharged his firearm, striking Spencer, who had allegedly stolen a bystander’s vehicle and was fleeing the scene…
IrvingWeekly Staff, “Private Investigator Shoots Suspect Fleeing Scene In Old East Dallas,” IrvingWeekly, April 23, 2024.
Little Rock, Arkansas, April 24, 2024 (KARK.com)
On Thursday morning, a police report from the incident identified Chad Green as the suspect who allegedly tried to rob an armored truck driver at a bank ATM in Little Rock.
According to the report, officers responded to the Bank of America on Geyer Springs Road after receiving reports of a shooting just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
After arriving on the scene, officers said a Loomis armored truck driver told them that Green had maced him, leading to him shooting Green “a couple of times.”…
Samantha Boyd, “North Little Rock defense attorney identified as suspect shot in attempted armored truck robbery at Bank of America,” KARK.com, April 25, 2024.
Memphis, Tennessee, April 24, 2024 (FOX13 Memphis)
It all started when a woman and her boyfriend were “relaxing” in the driveway of their home on the 3000 block of Boone Street on April 24, according to the Memphis Police Department (MPD). That was when someone the couple both knew walked up and started arguing with the man…
Walker, 37, then took out a gun and fired several shots at the man, who produced his own weapon and fired back, police said.
According to police, Walker ran off and continued to fire shots when the victim collapsed to the ground…
Walker was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault…
FOX13 Memphis News Staff, “’I’m going to make your mother cry’: Man shot in own driveway during argument, police say,” FOX13 Memphis, April 24, 2024.
San Antonio, Texas, April 27, 2024 (NEWS4SA)
Police responded to reports of a shooting in progress around 3:34 am. near S. Alamo and E. Cesar Chavez Blvd.
According to authorities, they searched the area for a suspect matching the caller’s description. Officers encountered a 22-year-old man who matched the description of one of the individuals involved in the shooting. The man reportedly informed officers he was acting in self-defense, claiming an unknown person fired upon him during an altercation. He stated he returned fire…
No arrests have been made, and the suspect remains unidentified, according to police.
SBG San Antonio Staff, “Downtown shooting: Man claims self-defense in early morning gunfire incident,” NEWS4SA, April 27, 2024.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 66% of Likely U.S. voters are concerned that the outcome of the presidential election will be affected by cheating, including 40% who are Very Concerned. Thirty-one percent (31%) aren’t concerned, including 14% who are Not At All Concerned about cheating in the election. These findings have barely changed from previous surveys over the last couple of years (e.g., see here and here).
While even Democrats are concerned about vote fraud affecting the 2024 presidential election by a 55%-to-40% margin, liberals by a 50%-to-44% margin, those who strongly support Biden by a slim 50%-to-46% margin, and those who think the country is heading in the right direction by a slim 49%-to-47% margin are not concerned. Those happiest with the Biden win are the least concerned about vote fraud. But a majority of all other groups are concerned, though those with a graduate school education are pretty evenly divided with a slim 51% to 48% being concerned.
What might be most surprising is that a slim plurality of likely voters (47%-to-44%) think that “there is no way Joe Biden got 81 million votes in the 2020 election.” Interestingly, Hispanics are even more likely (by 53%-to-42%) than whites (by 48%-to-44%) to say that Biden’s vote total was due to fraud.
Copy-of-Election-Integrity-June-5-6-and-9-2024Download
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Officer Tatum Show to discuss the rise in crime nationwide and the response time of police officers dropping. See also Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at the Wall Street Journal titled “The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It: The decline in reported crimes is a function of less reporting, not less crime.”
(Friday, May 10, 2024, from 6:20 to 6:40 PM ET)
Professor Carl Moody, our CPRC research director, and Dr. John Lott have new research available for download.
Abstract
In response to our short paper in Academia Letters, Bondy et. al. published much longer response in this journal. We show that the Bondy et. al. criticisms are misleading and irrelevant. We present new estimates of the effect of right-to-carry and permit-less “constitutional carry” laws on the murder rate. We find that the traditional two-way fixed-effects analysis shows that right-to-carry laws have a negative but only marginally significant effect and that constitutional carry laws have an insignificantly negative effect. We also apply new difference-in-differences analyses to the same data and find that both laws have a negative but insignificant effect on murder. We conclude that, although the standard errors indicate that these coefficients are not precisely estimated, it cannot be claimed that either one of these laws significantly increases murder.
Carlisle E. Moody and John R. Lott, Jr., “Estimating the Effect of Concealed Carry Laws on Murder: A Response to Bondy, et al,” College of William & Mary Working paper, June 17, 2024.
Dr. John Lott appeared on WPHT’s Mike Opelka Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent 6-3 decision in Garland v. Cargill, invalidating the bump stock prohibition.
(Saturday, June 15, 2024, from 6:10 to 6:19 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott will speak on Friday, July 5th at the 4th edition of SHOT FAIR BRASIL.
Location: SHOT FAIR BRASIL Arena
Day: July 5th (Friday)
Time: 7pm until 8:30pm
Guests: Lott, Bene Barbosa and Fabrício Rebelo
Location: Anhembi District – EXPO 5 – São Paulo/SP
Avenida Olavo Fontoura, 1209 – Santana – São Paulo
Dr. John Lott appeared on Alaska’s Michael Dukes Show to discuss his new piece at Townhall, which continues our investigation into the problems with the FBI crime data. See also Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at the Washington Times titled “Don’t defend yourself in New York City: If you do, you will be prosecuted.” They also discussed the Manhattan trial of former President Donald J. Trump.
(Friday, May 31, 2024, from 7:20 to 8:00 AM PT)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece up at Real Clear Politics.
President Biden is making gun control a central part of his reelection campaign. In a new ad, Biden says that Trump did “nothing” when children were “gunned down in classrooms,” innocent people “killed in church,” and others “massacred at a concert.”
The Biden campaign is referring to shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas; and an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. In four years, there were 18 mass shootings that occurred in public places and that did not transpire during another crime such as robbery or selling drugs. (A “mass killing” is defined by criminologists as involving four or more fatalities, not counting the shooter.)
But 23 mass public shootings have occurred so far under Biden – a 50% higher annual rate than under Trump. The deadliest shooting resulted in 21 victims at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas – four more than were killed in Parkland.
Besides touting the establishment of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Biden also points to his new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ regulations for background checks on the private transfer of guns. But these additional background checks wouldn’t have prevented any recent mass public shootings. For example, the Uvalde murderer didn’t obtain his gun through a private transfer, and he passed a federal background check. There isn’t one mass shooting in this century that universal background checks would have stopped. But almost no one seems to challenge the Biden campaign’s stance on this issue.
While Biden touts a regulation that won’t accomplish anything other than creating an obstacle to gun ownership and helping to complete a national gun registry, there is evidence that Trump’s proposed reforms could work.
After the Parkland shooting, Trump tweeted: “If schools are mandated to be gun free zones, violence and danger are given an open invitation to enter. Almost all school shootings are in gun free zones. Cowards will only go where there is no deterrent.” Ironically, the Gun-Free School Zones Act was introduced in Congress in 1990 by then-Sen. Joe Biden.
After a mass murder at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, Trump made a similar point: “If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. If they had some kind of protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation. They didn’t.”
The only slight inaccuracy in Trump’s tweet after Parkland is that all school shootings with deaths or injuries, without exception, have occurred in schools that ban teachers and staff from having guns. He needn’t have offered the qualifier “almost.”
These mass murderers want to commit suicide, and they want media coverage. They know that killing more people means greater media coverage, and they know that defenseless victims are easier targets.
Police are very important in fighting crime, but they have a limited ability to stop mass public shootings. “A deputy in uniform has an extremely difficult job in stopping these attacks,” noted Kurt Hoffman, a Sarasota County, Florida, sheriff. Hoffman said that mass shooters can “wait for a deputy to leave the area or pick an undefended location.” And the problem with a visible police or security presence, he said, is that the officers may as well be holding up neon signs saying, “Shoot me first.” Concealed handgun permit holders, however, can’t be identified and therefore take away shooters’ tactical advantage.
California has the strictest gun control laws in the country – all the other regulations Biden would like to see enacted nationally. But its per capita annual rate of mass public shootings is significantly higher than in the rest of the country. For shootings since2000, California’s rate stands at 0.33 per million whereas the overall U.S. rate is 0.25 per million. Looking at data since 2010, California’s rate is 0.28 per million versus 0.15 for the rest of the U.S. And from 2020 to now, it’s 0.13 for California and 0.05 for the rest of the U.S. California’s rate is also consistently higher than that of Texas, a state that gun control advocates often seek to demonize.
Biden claims credit for the drop in reported murder rates last year, pointing to his background checks and the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. This is a canard. The new rules are only going into effect this year. Also, while last year’s projected murder rate was indeed down from 2022, it’s still 7% above 2019 levels.
Given Biden’s losing streak in the courts, his background checks may not exist long after taking effect later this year. The difference between Biden and Trump is clear. Biden wants credit for doing something even if it doesn’t help. Trump wants to do something that works.
Lott is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. He served as senior adviser for research and statistics in the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department.
John R. Lott, Jr., “Biden Gun Regulations Don’t Affect Mass Shootings,” Real Clear Politics, June 19, 2024.
Dr. John Lott appeared on Sunday Night with Bill Cunningham to discuss Lott’s new op-ed at Townhall titled “Biden’s Desperate Attempt to Paint Trump As a Racist.” They also talked about the newly released “nearly four dozen pages” of the Nashville Covenant School murderer’s diary, which the FBI and Nashville police have suppressed for over a year.
(Sunday, June 16, 2024)
Biden is making gun control a central part of his re-election campaign. Biden is referring to shootings at Parkland High School, Sutherland Springs Church, and a Las Vegas concert during the Trump administration. In four years, there were eighteen mass shootings during the Trump administration that occurred in public places and did not transpire in the course of another crime, such as robbery or selling drugs. “Mass” is defined as involving four or more fatalities.
But 23 mass public shootings have occurred so far under Biden – a 46% higher annual rate than under Trump. The deadliest shooting resulted in twenty-one murders at a school in Uvalde, Texas — four more than were killed in Parkland.
Besides touting the establishment of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Biden also points to his new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ regulations for background checks on the private transfer of guns. But these additional background checks wouldn’t have prevented any recent mass public shootings. For example, the Uvalde murderer didn’t obtain his gun through a private transfer, and he passed a federal background check. Indeed, there isn’t one mass shooting in this century that universal background checks would have stopped. But almost no one seems to challenge the Biden campaign’s stance on this issue.
Biden claims credit for the drop in reported murder rates last year, pointing to his background checks and the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It is quite strange that Biden claims credit for new background checks lowering murder rates last year, when the new rules are only going into effect this year. Also, while last year’s projected murder rate was indeed down from 2022, it’s still 7% above 2019 levels.
Dr. John Lott Jr. appeared on Stinchfield Tonight on Real America’s Voice to discuss his recent op-ed at the Wall Street Journal titled “The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It.”
(Thursday, June 13, 2024)
The Bidens were using the Sandyhook Memorial as cover to secure his family $10 million per year from the Chinese.
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‘Can you meet this evening early,’ Hunter wrote. ‘My father will be in New York also and he wants me to attend the Sandyhook memorial service with him and I would like him to meet you along with my uncle [Jim Biden] and then you and I can talk let me know if that works.’
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‘No problem,’ Yadong replied. ‘Pls let me know where and when to meet.’
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The texts to set up a meeting with Joe came after months of negotiation about the Biden family’s involvement in the deal with the Chinese government-linked company, in exchange for $10 million a year. . . .
Josh Boswell, “oe and Hunter Biden used a visit to Sandy Hook memorial service to set up secret meet with Chinese over $10m-a-year deal, new emails reveal,” May 27, 2024
As we recently posted, Democrats now openly acknowledge their goal is to give citizenship to all illegal aliens. But, apparently, some can’t wait for non-citizens to vote. Secretaries of State Brad Raffensperger (R-GA), Adrian Fontes (D-AZ), and Jocelyn Benson (D-MI) had a lively discussion on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with host Kristen Welker about noncitizens attempting to vote. Raffensperger pointed out that Georgia’s citizenship verification had discovered 1,600 non-citizens who had attempted to vote.
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Welker asked Raffensperger why the issue of noncitizens voting in the election is such an urgent matter if its quite rare and illegal.
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“Because I believe only American citizens should be voting in our elections. And I ran back in 2018 saying the same thing. I’m the first secretary of state in Georgia to ever do 100 percent citizenship verification,” Raffensperger responded.
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He said the state found about 1,600 people that attempted to register to vote but they could not find citizenship verification.
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“So, my fellow Georgians asked me, ‘Are noncitizens voting in Georgia?’ I can say, ‘No, they aren’t’ because we’ve checked it,” Raffensperger said. . . .
Lauren Irwin, “Raffensperger, Arizona secretary of state at odds over noncitizen voting,” The Hill, May 25, 2024.
Strangely, Secretary Fontes used the fact that verification was done and prevented non-citizens from voting as an argument not to verify voters’ citizenship instead of noting that 1,600 had tried to register:
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Fontes addressed Raffensperger saying he proved his own point with that example.
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“You did an audit, and you found that there were attempts. But none of those folks were actually registered, and none of those folks actually voted. And that means that elections have been safe and secure from noncitizen voting in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and across the country,” Fontes said. “So, I think this is a red herring.”
Dr. John Lott appeared on Iowa’s giant 50,000-watt KXEL-AM radio station to discuss his new op-ed at the Wall Street Journal titled “The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It: The decline in reported crimes is a function of less reporting, not less crime.”
(Friday, April 26, 2024, from 10:10 to 10:25 AM ET)
The suspect who went on a stabbing spree at Braintree’s AMC Theather was identified by local media based on sources within law enforcement as Jared Ravizza. The transperson was arrested by the cops in Massachusetts for allegedly stabbing four teenage girls and two adults in separate incidents on Saturday. She was caught following a chase and a crash near Sandwich. The motive behind the attack by Ravizza was not known. Before this report was released, no deaths had been reported despite the fact that all of the people who the suspect had stabbed were later admitted to a hospital.
Times Now Digital, “Who Is Jared Ravizza? Braintree, Massachusetts’ AMC Theater Stabbing Suspect Identified,” Times Now Digital, May 26, 2024.
The trans activist who was arrested for going on a stabbing spree in Massachusetts and injured 4 young girls, is an Obama supporter.
Libs of TikTok, May 26, 2024
Unfortunately, the media (CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, The Hill, Heavy.com, New York Post, and more) ignores the attacker’s trans nature. The picture is from Libs of TikTok.
| Comparing the violent crime rates in New York City from before the pandemic to 2023 | | 2019 | 2023 | Percent Change | | Murder | 318 | 391 | 23.0% | | Rape | 1,760 | 1,465 | -16.8% | | Robbery | 13,363 | 16,934 | 26.7% | | Felony Assault | 20,644 | 27,951 | 35.4% | | Total | 56,749 | 74,692 | 31.6% | | https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/pr0106/overall-crime-new-york-city-hits-record-low-2019 | https://nypost.com/2024/04/03/us-news/crime-was-in-fact-up-year-as-mayor-adams-tries-to-downplay-disorder/ |
Rarely do you see comparisons for violent crime rates before and after the pandemic. Usually, the media will compare the 2023 crime rate to the peaks in reported crime from 2020. This comparison is important because New York City slashed its police budget by $1 billion annually in 2020. Even in 2022, there was a cut of $350 million over their 2021 police budget.
Dr. John Lott talked to Greg Seltz on WAVA’s The Drive Home Show about AI’s left-wing bias and the collapse in law enforcement. See also Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at Real Clear Politics (“AI’s Left-wing Bias on Crime and Gun Control“) and his latest piece at the Wall Street Journal (“The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It“).
(Wednesday, April 24, 2024, from 4:15 to 4:26 pm ET)
Senator Chuck Schumer: “Now more than ever we are short of workers, we have a population that is not reproducing on its own, with the same level that it used to. The only way that we are going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, the dreamers and all of them. Because the ultimate goal is to help the dreamers but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.”
NYC shop owner with a concealed carry permit faces seven years for unintentionally shooting a thief, Kevin Pullatasi, who was assaulting an employee for the second time. It was a defensive gun use, and the store owner should have been allowed to intentionally shoot the assailant. The Queens District Attorney, Melinda Katz, decided that the assailant was charged only with petty theft and not with assault. George Soros did not fund Katz. Instead, he supported Tiffany Cabán in the 2020 race.
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The situation outside then turned violent when 20-year-old suspect Kevin Pullatasi charged at the liquor store door. He pushed the door against the store worker, who responds by waving his hand at him as a shouting match ensues, video shows. The store worker is the owner’s brother.
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Pullatasi then walked away before dropping his bag and charging at the door again. Pullatasi can be seen on video trying to kick and punch the store worker.
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That’s when store owner Valerio appears in the video and can be seen trying to pistol-whip Pullatasi, who then drops to the ground having been shot. Pullatasi then dragged himself against a car before Valerio went over to check on him.
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Valerio has been charged with assault in the second and third degrees, reckless endangerment in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. The DA’s office says that Valerio has a concealed carry permit and that the gun was concealed in his rear waistband.
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Pullatasi, who was treated in hospital for a gunshot wound, was charged with petit larceny, as was Edwin Poaquiza. They both have addresses in Brooklyn and prosecutors say they stole two bottles of liquor. . . .
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Michael Dorgan, “NYC shop owner with concealed carry permit faces 7 years for inadvertently shooting would-be thief,” Fox News, May 25, 2024.
Dr. John Lott appeared on KNRS’s The Rod Arquette Show in Salt Lake City to discuss his new op-ed at the Wall Street Journal about why we should not believe the media when they say crime numbers are decreasing.
(Thursday, April 25, 2024, from 6:05 to 6:15 PM)
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Doug Wagner Show to discuss his new op-ed at the Wall Street Journal titled “The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It.” The Corporate media are reporting that crime is going down, but it doesn’t feel like that on the ground. The decline in reported crimes is a function of less reporting, not less crime.
(Tuesday, April 30, 2024, from 7:46 to 7:53 AM CT)
Often, people point to the rate at which police officers are murdered with their guns. Over the 17 years from 2002 to 2018, there were 34 officers murdered with their gun compared to the 878 officers who were murdered — 3.87% of the total. But the relevant comparison is to the rate at which officers are assaulted. Officers have to come into contact with criminals when they arrest them, and it is at that point that criminals think that they might be able to escape by assaulting the officer. When the criminal is in contact with the officer, they might also try to steal the officer’s gun. Over the eight years from 2011 to 2018, the rate that officers are murdered with their gun when they are injured from the assault is 0.0057%. If you look at the rate relative to all assaults, it is 0.0016%.
Data is taken from various years of the FBI UCR Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted reports (for example, here is the data for 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016).
A new Rasmussen Reports survey of likely U.S. voters (May 15-16 and 19) shows Americans feel that the country is becoming less safe to live by a 50% to 20% margin, and that view is held by virtually all groups except Democrats (35% more safe, 29% less safe), liberals (34% more safe, 21% less safe), and those who strongly support Biden (56% more safe, 6% less safe). But there is a greater divergence in views when people are asked whether Biden or Trump will make America “a safer place to live.” Overall, by a 49% to 40% margin Americans think that Trump will make the country safer, blacks, Democrats, liberals, moderates, those with a graduate school education, government workers, and those who strongly or somewhat approve of Biden disagree. Interestingly, those who went to graduate school are really the only education group who think that Biden will do a better job of Americans safer. Among all income groups only the highest income group, those making over $200,000, were equally divided between Biden and Trump. The results for this last question are shown in the figure above.
Copy-of-Safer-America-May-15-16-and-19-2024Download
Akron, Ohio, January 1, 2024 (News 5 Cleveland)
It happened around 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day at the Taco Bell on South Arlington Street.
According to the 911 call, a masked man entered the restaurant and approached employees at gunpoint. One of the employees ran and hid in the freezer and called the police…
Investigators said the suspected robber fired the gun at another employee. That’s when a 21-year-old worker pulled a gun of his own and shot back at the suspect, striking him in the chest. The robber then fled with an undisclosed amount of money.
“To some degree, [he] could’ve saved or prevented someone from being seriously injured or killed – himself or others,” said Miller…
It’s unclear if the Taco Bell employee who was carrying a gun will be reprimanded, but Miller does not expect charges…
Drew Scofield and Catherine Ross, “Man robs Akron Taco Bell, gets shot by employee, police say,” News 5 Cleveland, January 2, 2024.
New Castle, Indiana, January 2, 2024 (WTHR.com)
New Castle police said they received a call of a shooting at 12:37 a.m. Tuesday near 18th Street and D Avenue.
Police said the caller reported shooting a man after he came after them with a hatchet…
Police said it doesn’t appear the caller knew the man shot and killed.
No arrests have been made, and the case will now be reviewed by the Henry County prosecutor.
WTHR.com staff, “Police: Person shot and killed man coming at them with hatchet in New Castle,” WTHR.com, January 2, 2024.
Chicago, Illinois, January 2, 2024 (CWB Chicago)
Officers responding to a call of a “citizen holding an offender” in the 9400 block of South Laflin arrived to find the 39-year-old carjacking victim holding Berry at gunpoint in the street at 6:28 a.m., the report said…
He explained that he was sitting in his 2021 Mazda CX9 when Berry walked up to his driver’s window and pointed a gun at his head…
The victim complied, handed over his keys, and entered his house.
Once he was inside, he grabbed his own gun. Then he went back outside. Berry was sitting behind the steering wheel of the Mazda with a firearm on the passenger seat, the report said.
“If you reach for it, I’ll blow your head off,” the man recalled telling Berry.
He then opened the door to his car, grabbed Berry by the collar, and pulled him to the ground, the report continued…
The cops recovered the firearm Berry allegedly left on the Mazda’s passenger seat. The report said it had been stolen from a vehicle in the 1400 block of West 90th Street on November 28…
Tim Hecke, “Carjacking victim fetched a pistol and forced the hijacker out of his car at gunpoint: Chicago police report,” CWB Chicago, January 5, 2024.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, January 3, 2024 (Local10.com)
Police said they responded to a shooting call just before 12:30 a.m. near the 1200 block of East Las Olas Boulevard…
An FLPD spokesperson told Local 10 News that a preliminary investigation revealed the shooting was related to a road rage incident.
Authorities said the shooter remained at the scene after the incident and is cooperating with the investigation.
It was determined that the victim had punched the gunman before the shooting occurred, according to police…
Police told Local 10 News that the shooter was released pending a “stand-your-ground” case review…
Ryan Mackey and Sanela Sabovic, “Road rage shooting in Las Olas leaves 1 hospitalized, police say,” Local10.com, January 3, 2024.
Wellford, South Carolina, January 3, 2024 (FOX Carolina)
Deputies said the shooting took place on Shiloh Church Road and left one person with a non life-threatening gunshot wound to his hip.
According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect was cooperative and at this time, it appears he acted in self defense…
Anisa Snipes, “Suspect acted in self-defense in Wellford shooting, deputies say,” FOX Carolina, January 4, 2024.
Chicago, Illinois, January 4, 2024 (ABC7 Chicago)
Chicago police said three male suspects shattered the front door window of a business at on 460 East 61st Street at about 4:35 a.m.
The made entry into V’s Convenience Store and began taking merchandise when police said the 40-year-old store owner, Vanessa Harris, arrived.
The owner said one of the suspects took out a gun and fired shots at her and the owner fired back, police said. It does not appear any of the suspects were wounded and the store owner was not injured…
Harris said she has a concealed carry license, and police took her gun as protocol while they investigate…
The store owner said she is angry and frustrated. This is the second burglary to their store in four days. The first time was on New Year’s Eve overnight…
Jessica D’Onofrio and ABC7 Chicago Digital Team, “Convenience Store Owner Exchanges Gunfire with Burglary Suspects on South Side,” ABC7 Chicago, January 4, 2024.
Topeka, Kansas, January 5, 2024 (Newsbreak)
A brave action by a Topeka resident brought an attempted robbery at a local Walgreens to a halt late Friday night. The incident, reported by the Topeka Police Department, occurred at the Walgreens located at 1001 SW Topeka Blvd.
Law enforcement officials were called to the scene around 11:40 p.m. on January 5, following reports of a disturbance. Upon arrival, they discovered that a Topeka resident, who was armed, had already detained the suspect. The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Edward C. Beddingfield Jr. of Topeka, was accused of threatening people in the store and stealing items.
Following his apprehension by the citizen, Beddingfield was arrested and booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections. He faces several charges, including aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, interference with law enforcement, and theft…
The incident underscores the role that community members can play in aiding law enforcement and ensuring public safety, although such interventions carry significant risk.
Nik Hatziefstathiou, “Topeka Citizen Detains Robbery Suspect Until Police Arrival,” Newsbreak, January 8, 2024.
Houston, Texas, January 6, 2024 (FOX 26 Houston)
Police initially responded to a report of a robbery and a shooting in the 5600 block of Maxwell around 1 a.m.
Police learned that a woman and her friend had just come back to the apartment complex after eating, and the friend got out of the woman’s pickup truck to go up to his apartment.
Police say the woman was in her pickup truck getting ready to leave when two people reportedly came up with pistols and pulled her out of the vehicle at gunpoint.
The woman’s friend heard what was happening from his apartment and came out with a pistol, police say.
According to police, there was an exchange of gunfire.
Police say the man who was killed is believed to have been the man who was robbing the woman. Authorities say the other person who was him took off running…
FOX 26 Digital, “Houston shooting: 1 dead after robbery attempt on Maxwell, police say,” FOX 26 Houston, January 6, 2024.
Hammond, Louisiana, January 7, 2024 (The Daily Star)
According to HPD, on Jan. 7 around 2 a.m., officers responded to a domestic disturbance where a female was reported as sustaining a stab wound to the neck.
Upon arrival, HPD officers found the victim near the steps of the residence holding her bleeding neck. Officers learned that Hoskins, 46, had engaged in a verbal argument that turned physical as Hoskins allegedly began choking the victim inside her vehicle, police said.
During the struggle, the victim escaped through the passenger side door. Then, according to HPD, Hoskins attacked her with a kitchen knife.
The victim grabbed the knife, which caused a laceration to her palm, and threw it away from their location. Police reported that Hoskins allegedly started to choke her again while saying she was going to die.
A neighbor heard the screams for help and came outside with his gun, which appeared to convince Hoskins to flee the scene in the victim’s vehicle. The vehicle was later found in Livingston Parish…
The Daily Star Staff, “Hammond man wanted on attempted murder,” The Daily Star, January 12, 2024.
Oakland, California, January 8, 2024 (FOX 2 KTVU)
It happened at MSM Jewelry store near 41st Avenue and International Boulevard at about 10 a.m. Monday…
The two men, both wearing masks, came inside with guns drawn.
The worker said he fired the first shot from his 9mm handgun.
“They told me don’t move, or we’ll shoot. So I started shooting at them because they had the guns pointed at me,” he said. “They were shooting back. It was going back and forth for like 20 seconds.”
He said the men fired about 20 shots at him, one with a .40-caliber handgun with a drum magazine. The other had a 9mm with an extended magazine. These large capacity magazines are illegal…
Oakland police took a report. Officers did not cite or arrest the worker.
“They said, ‘You did the right thing.’ They said, ‘You followed – you did everything right.’ They said we’re just going to take your guns until the investigation’s done, but I have more,” he said…
Henry Lee, “Shootout at jewelry store in Oakland’s Fruitvale – worker opens fire,” FOX 2 KTVU, January 9, 2024.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, January 8, 2024 (KOCO News)
Shortly before 5:30 p.m. on Monday, police responded to reports of a disturbance at a business along Southwest 29th Street near South Kentucky Avenue. When officers arrived, police said they found a 55-year-old man who had been shot…
Investigators said they learned that Thomas went to the business and started an altercation with someone inside. He then pulled out a knife and swung it at the business owner, who police said shot and killed Thomas.
Police told KOCO 5 that the altercation wasn’t an attempted robbery but instead was over a business deal.
An Oklahoma City Police Department news release states that it appears at this time that the deadly shooting was self-defense. The case will be presented to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office, who will determine if charges should be filed.
No arrests have been made…
Jonathan Greco, “Police release details surrounding deadly shooting at southwest OKC business,” KOCO News, January 9, 2024.
Charlotte, North Carolina, January 8, 2024 (wsoctv.com, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department)
Police found Daniel Thomas who had been shot in the middle of the road on North Tryon Street at 27th Street in front of the 2400 Arcade Room…
Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Homicide Unit have classified this case as a justified homicide. The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office has consulted with the CMPD’s Homicide Unit and concurs with the detectives’ decision not to charge anyone in this case…
Hannah Goetz, “Mother wants answers after son shot, killed in north Charlotte,” wsoctv.com, January 15, 2024.
Staff, “Case Update: Homicide Investigation in the Metro Division – N Tryon St,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, January 22, 2024.
Seattle, Washington, January 9, 2024 (KOMO News)
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) said it located the 20-year-old victim on the 700 block of 5th Avenue around 10 p.m. The man reported he was robbed of his scooter and “stabbed multiple times” after getting off a King County Metro bus near 4th Avenue and Columbia Street, according to the SPD…
After being stabbed by the unknown suspect, the victim took out a pistol and “fired multiple rounds at the suspect” before running north on 4th Avenue and then east on 5th Avenue, according to the SPD…
The suspect was “in possession of multiple knives and found to have a non-life-threatening gunshot graze wound” when officers found him, according to the SPD. The SFD treated the suspect and later took him to Harborview, police said. He will be booked into King County jail for robbery once he’s medically cleared, police added…
KOMO News Staff, “Man shoots armed suspect after being stabbed during scooter robbery in downtown Seattle,” KOMO News, January 10, 2024.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 11, 2024 (6abc Action News, National Wrestling Alliance)
It happened around 7 p.m. Thursday on the 6100 block of Shisler Street…
Kittrell, who was in his vehicle, was approached by four masked men. In the course of the incident, one of the assailants shot Kittrell in the hip, resulting in a non-life-threatening injury.
Kittrell, who possesses a permit to carry a gun, used his legally registered firearm to defend himself and returned fire. The suspects fled the scene, and investigators are currently reviewing surveillance footage for leads. Kittrell was taken to a local hospital and is recovering…
6abc Digital Staff, “Man shot during gun battle with attempted robbery suspect in Oxford Circle,” 6abc Action News, January 12, 2024.
Staff, “National Wrestling Alliance Star and Cancer Survivor Blk Jeez Survives Shooting, Attempted Carjacking,” National Wrestling Alliance, January 12, 2024.
Washington, DC, January 12, 2024 (Metropolitan Police DC)
On Friday, January 12, 2024, the victim was sitting in his vehicle in the 1900 block of 14th Street, Southeast, when three suspects approached him, assaulted him, and robbed him at gunpoint. Two of the suspects then took the victim’s vehicle.
Shortly thereafter, one of the two suspects in the carjacked vehicle began exchanging gunfire with an unknown person in the 3300 block of Benning Road, Northeast. The unknown person returned fire, striking the suspect. Responding officers located the injured suspect and the carjacked vehicle…
MPDC Staff, “Teen Arrested for Carjacking and Shooting,” Metropolitan Police DC, January 12, 2024.
Peoria, Illinois, January 15, 2024 (CIPROUD.com)
State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos said that because the man who fired the fatal shot was a legal gun owner who was defending himself from being robbed, “no charges will be filed against him.”…
Police were called to a shooting in the 2100 block of West Lincoln Avenue at approximately 5:04 p.m. on Monday…
The botched Facebook Marketplace robbery took place in an alley in the south end of Peoria, where the purchasers were directed to by the robbers. A group of individuals, including Williams and Branscumb, attempted to rob the purchasers at gunpoint, according to Hoos.
In the midst of the robbery, 18-year-old Marcus Whitehead was shot and killed.
The robbery victim was drawn there, police have said, due to a Facebook Marketplace ad for a vehicle…
Kate Stevens, “Coroner releases name of man shot in Peoria Monday,” CIPROUD.com, January 16, 2024.
Kate Stevens and Andy Kravetz, “Man who fired fatal shot in deadly Facebook Marketplace transaction faces no charges,” CIPROUD.com, January 27, 2024.
Kansas City, Missouri, January 17, 2024 (The Kansas City Star)
An employee working security at Crown Center and a bystander fired weapons in response to a shooting in the shopping mall Wednesday, police say.
Police said the security worker and the mall visitor have been identified and are cooperating with police as they continue their investigation.
Emergency medical responders and police were dispatched around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday after multiple 911 calls of gunshots in the Crown Center…
Investigators were told there was a verbal argument between two groups that appeared to be youths, or people in their late teens or early 20s. The altercation quickly led to gunfire, according to police, in an incident which left six people wounded and damaged surrounding businesses…
Kendrick Calfee, “Security guard, mall visitor shot weapons in response to Crown Center shooting, police say,” The Kansas City Star, January 18, 2024.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 20, 2024 (WTAE)
Herrell is the manager of Las Palmas, a Beechview restaurant and grocery store. He says it was just like any normal Saturday when he noticed 17-year-old Marcus Glass waiting in line at the taco stand. Moments later, Glass stole the tip jar and ran off. That’s when the employees began their pursuit.
“Whenever they were halfway down the street, he started shooting back. He shot three rounds and then I got in my car. I was still here, and got in my car. We were on the call with police at the time, so we were looking for him to tell police where he was, and I found him in the woods. He took out his gun, I shot back. I shot three rounds,” Herrell said.
Just a few moments later, police arrived on scene and took Glass into custody. Glass is facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault, robbery and recklessly endangering another person. Herrell said he’s still in disbelief the situation ended the way it did, but ultimately the safety of his employees is what he was most concerned for…
Yazmin Rodriguez, “Las Palmas manager speaks out after returning gunfire during robbery,” WTAE, January 21, 2024.
Chicago, Illinois, January 22, 2024 (FOX 32 Chicago)
A concealed carry holder shot at an armed robber who held up a Taco Burrito King restaurant Monday night in the Cragin neighborhood.
A 17-year-old armed with a gun entered the restaurant, located at 5413 W. Belmont Avenue, around 9:35 p.m. and demanded money from the register, according to police. The clerk complied but the teen was confronted by a licensed concealed carry holder who shot at him as he fled the restaurant…
Will Hager, “CCL holder shoots at armed robber who held up Taco Burrito King,” FOX 32 Chicago, January 23, 2024.
Raleigh, North Carolina, January 23, 2024 (CBS 17)
According to police, the shooting occurred at Walmart at 4500 Fayetteville Road on Jan. 23. Police say after an apparent argument, Colton Valdez, 29, approached a man and presented a weapon. The man then drew his gun and shot Valdez, who died shortly after the incident.
Police said through their investigation, it was determined that the weapon that Valdez presented was a BB gun that resembled a real handgun.
Through a thorough investigation, and consultation with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, police have decided not to file charges against the man who shot Valdez.
Glyniss Wiggins, “BB gun pulled by man fatally shot in Garner Walmart parking lot, shooter not being charged, police say,” CBS 17, January 26, 2024.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 25, 2024 (6abc Action News)
It happened around 2:34 p.m. in the 3600 block of North G Street.
Police tell Action News there was a dispute between the 19-year-old driver of a Honda and the 38-year-old driver of a gray Ford.
Investigators say the driver of the Honda pointed a gun at the Ford driver. The Ford driver then pulled out a gun and opened fire…
Small says a relative brought the 19-year-old to the hospital for treatment, where he is also being held as a prisoner. He was listed as critical but is expected to survive…
The driver of the Ford was not injured. Police say he remained on scene and is cooperating with police. He does have a valid permit to carry.
No charges have been filed.
6abc Digital Staff and Briana Smith, “Man shot during apparent road rage incident in Philadelphia’s Juniata Park section,” 6abc Action News, January 25, 2024.
New Orleans, Louisiana, January 26, 2024 (FOX 8 Live)
The victim, an adult male, was reportedly targeted by 23-year-old Johnathan Edwards in the 7300 block of Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans East around 2 a.m. on Jan. 26.
Police say Edwards pulled on the door handle and told the victim to get out.
The victim fired shots at Edwards, striking him multiple times, the NOPD said.
The suspect was taken to a hospital. Upon release, he will be booked into jail on one count of attempted first-degree robbery.
The victim is not facing charges.
FOX 8 Staff, “Carjacking suspect shot multiple times by would-be victim, NOPD says, FOX 8 Live, January 26, 2024.
Houston, Texas, January 27, 2024 (FOX 26 Houston)
According to police, a male suspect approached a man and his girlfriend at the pumps at the “Zip In Zip Out” Chevron Gas Station located at 11095 Ella Blvd. Police say the suspect pistol-whipped the man at the gas station and demanded his wallet.
After investigating, police found out that a bystander, unrelated to the victim or the suspect, witnessed the robbery and shot the suspect. The shooter then instructed the robbery victim to retrieve what the suspect had taken before leaving the scene…
The robbery suspect later died after being taken to the hospital in critical condition…
Houston police say the shooter later called and met with HPD detectives to provide a statement. He was released after detectives contacted the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Officials say the shooting investigation would be presented to a grand jury…
FOX 26 Digital and Jade Flury, “Houston crime: One dead in shooting at Zip In Zip Out gas station on Ella Boulevard,” FOX 26 Houston, January 27, 2024.
Dothan, Alabama, January 27, 2024 (Dothan Police Department)
On January 27, 2024, Dothan Patrol Officers responded to the report of a robbery and shots fired in the 2900 block of Ross Clark Circle… Vickers approached the victim asking for help with his phone. As the victim and Vickers were walking, Vickers pulled out a firearm and demanded the victim’s property. Vickers forcefully snatched the victim’s purse off her shoulder. The victim, a lawful gun owner, pulled her own firearm to defend herself. The victim fired one round at the suspect but missed him. Vickers dropped the purse and ran away… Officers located what appeared to be a firearm near where Vickers was taken into custody. The firearm turned out to be a bb gun. Vickers was arrested and charged with Robbery 1st degree.
Staff, “Robber Gets More Than Property After Victim Pulls Her Own Firearm,” Dothan police Department, January 29, 2024.
Chicago, Illinois, January 28, 2024 (WGN-TV)
Liborio Torres said his son’s car was stolen from the 5500 block of South Kostner Avenue early Sunday morning. The family called the police to report the theft, but Torres said the car also had a tracker in it. Despite a warning from police not to follow it, he and his son began to track the vehicle.
According to Torres, they found the car a short time later in a parking lot in the 100 block of West 87th Street, with three people inside.
Torres said the three individuals inside the car spotted him and his son and that is when they opened fire…
Torres, a CCL holder, said he and his son then returned fire.
According to Chicago police, the vehicle then allegedly fled the scene following the shooting…
Gabriel Castillo and Brónagh Tumulty, “Shootout erupts on South Side after man allegedly attempts to recover stolen vehicle, WGN-TV, January 28, 2024.
Chicago, Illinois, January 30, 2024 (ABC 7 Chicago)
The 23-year-old man was walking in the 5400-block of North Winthrop Avenue in the city’s Edgewater neighborhood just after 4:20 a.m., when a white sedan and dark-colored SUV approached, CPD said.
A male suspect got out of one of the cars, pulled out a gun and demanded the man give him his belongings, police said.
The victim, who has a Firearm Owners Identification card and CCL, also pulled out a gun, and there was a shootout, police said.
The man was not injured, and the suspect got back into the SUV empty-handed, according to police…
ABC7 Chicago Digital Team, “Edgewater shooting: Man with CCL gets into shootout with would-be robber, Chicago police say,” ABC 7 Chicago, January 30, 2024.
McDonough, Georgia, January 30, 2024 (Hoodline)
In an incident that turned the tables on a suspected armed crook, a 20-year-old man was shot multiple times after he reportedly robbed his victims at gunpoint, Henry County Police divulged. The shooting occurred on Jan. 30 when police responded to the chaotic scene in the 1600 block of Saddle Creek Drive, as per FOX 5 Atlanta, only to discover Artavious Reed with gunshot wounds after he allegedly assaulted the victims and fired at their vehicle.
As the confrontation escalated, a victim, exercising their right to self-defense unleashed a barrage of bullets striking Reed repeatedly, this account of the self-defense action was corroborated by the Henry County Police Department. Reed, who has a history as a convicted felon, faces a litany of charges including Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and illegal firearm possession, according to information from Henry County officials sourced from WSB-TV.
Investigators pieced together the puzzle linking Reed to not just this incident but also to two more armed robberies that occurred earlier utilizing several search warrants and surveillance footage. The identities of the persons subjected to Reed’s violent spree were withheld from the press as the investigation progresses…
Bella Cruz, “Suspect Wounded by Victims in Self-Defense Shooting After Multiple Armed Robberies in Henry County,” Hoodline, February 16, 2024.
Chicago, Illinois, January 31, 2024 (CWB Chicago)
A tow truck driver opened fire on two competitors over a job, only to learn the hard way that the competitors were armed concealed-carry license holders, according to prosecutors, who have now charged the man with two counts of attempted murder…
In a Chicago Police Department report, officers said Soto got into an argument with the other drivers over a towing assignment in the 4600 block of West Harrison around 10 a.m. Soto left, then returned and began shooting at the other tow drivers, striking one, a 58-year-old man, in the arm, according to the report. The other driver, 36, was not injured.
Both of the drivers he shot at pulled out their own firearms and shot back, striking Soto throughout his body, officials said. Soto fled the scene, but Chicago cops found him at Loyola University Medical Center…
CWB Chicago Staff, “Tow truck driver critically injured after opening fire on two competitors who are concealed-carry gun owners: prosecutors,” CWB Chicago, February 12, 2024.
CBS’ FBI “Most Wanted” raises former Republican Congressman George Santos as their example of a liar (Season 1, Episode 2, February 20, 2024). It is a very small example, but when all the other consistent liberal biases in the show are taken into account, it isn’t particularly surprising.
The Sheetz convenience store chain has been hit with a lawsuit by federal officials who allege the company discriminated against minority job applicants.
Sheetz Inc., which operates more than 700 stores in six states, discriminated against Black, Native American and multiracial job seekers by automatically weeding out applicants whom the company deemed to have failed a criminal background check, according to U.S. officials. . . .
Sheetz said Thursday that it “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.” . . .
Federal officials said they do not allege Sheetz was motivated by racial animus, but take issue with the way the chain uses criminal background checks to screen job seekers. The company was sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion and national origin.
“Federal law mandates that employment practices causing a disparate impact because of race or other protected classifications must be shown by the employer to be necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of the particular jobs at issue,” EEOC attorney Debra M. Lawrence said in a statement. . . .
Associated Press, “Convenience store chain with hundreds of outlets in 6 states hit with discrimination lawsuit,” Associated Press, April 20, 2024.
If criminal background checks are so discriminatory that companies are not allowed to use them for employees, why do Democrats who claim that they care about minorities use them for gun purchases? If you support background checks on gun purchases, including nonviolent crimes, because people with criminal records are more likely to commit crimes in the future, why doesn’t that apply to firms that don’t want employees who might be more likely to steal or commit other crimes on the job?
Dr. John Lott talked to Jennifer Grossman on The Atlas Society Asks about his book “Gun Control Myths: How politicians, the media, and botched “studies” have twisted the facts on gun control.“
(Wednesday, March 27, 2024, from 5:00 to 6:00 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at the Wall Street Journal.
News outlets claim that Americans mistakenly believe violent crime is rising. A Gallup survey last year found that 92% of Republicans and 58% of Democrats thought crime was increasing. A February Rasmussen Reports survey found that, by a 4.7-to-1 margin, likely voters say violent crime in the U.S. is getting worse (61%), not better (13%).
Americans aren’t mistaken. News reports fail to take into account that many victims aren’t reporting crimes to the police, especially since the pandemic.
The U.S. has two measures of crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting program counts the number of crimes reported to police every year. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, in its National Crime Victimization Survey, asks about 240,000 people a year whether they have been victims of a crime. The two measures have diverged since 2020: The FBI has been reporting less crime, while more people say they have been victims.
The divergence is due to several reasons. In 2022, 31% of police departments nationwide, including Los Angeles and New York, didn’t report crime data to the FBI. In addition, in cities from Baltimore to Nashville, the FBI is undercounting crimes those jurisdictions reported.
Another reason is that crimes reported to the police are falling because arrest rates are plummeting. If victims don’t believe criminals will be caught and punished, they won’t bother reporting them. According to the FBI, if you take the five years preceding Covid-19 (2015-2019) and compare them with 2022, the percentage of violent crimes in all cities resulting in an arrest fell from 44% to 35%. Among cities with more than one million people (where violent crime disproportionately occurs), arrest rates over the same period plunged from 44% to 20%.
Arrests for property crimes nosedived even more. FBI data show that in 2022, 12% of reported property crimes in all cities resulted in an arrest. In cities of more than one million people, only 4.5% of reported property crimes in 2022 resulted in an arrest.
Based on the National Crime Victimization Survey, only 42% of violent crimes, such as robberies or aggravated assaults, and 32% of property crimes, such as burglary or arson, were reported in 2022. While the Justice Department doesn’t track the number of prosecutions, the percentage of arrests that resulted in a prosecution appears to have fallen that year.
In large cities, the arrest rate in 2022 compared with the average from 2015-2019 fell by 38% for murders, 50% for rapes, 55% for aggravated assault, and 58% for robberies.
While the rate of reported violent crime fell by 2.1% between 2021 and 2022, the National Crime Victimization Survey shows that total violent crime—reported and nonreported—rose from 16.5 incidents to 23.5 per 1,000 people. Nonreported violent crime in 2022 exceeded the five-year average between 2015 to 2019 by more than 17%.
Data reflect the scant consequences criminals face. During 2022 in cities with more than a million people, only 8.4% of all violent crimes (reported and unreported) and 1.4% of all property crimes resulted in an arrest. Not all those arrests resulted in charges.
Initial estimates cited by some news organizations show murder rates dropping 13% between 2022 and 2023. Murders usually are reported, so they don’t have the same reporting flaws of other violent crimes. Yet last year’s projected murder rate was still 5.51 per 100,000 people, or 7% above its 2019 level.
Law enforcement has collapsed in America, particularly in big cities. With many Americans no longer confident that the legal system will protect them, about 22 million now have concealed handgun permits. Twenty-nine states have adopted constitutional-carry laws that allow citizens to carry a firearm without a permit. A Crime Prevention Research Center survey last year found that 15.6% of general-election voters carry concealed handguns all or most of the time. That’s three times higher than the level found in a 2017 Pew Research Center survey.
A recent Rasmussen Reports survey found that not everyone sees violent crime on the rise. Less than half of likely voters who earn more than $200,000 a year think it is getting worse. Yet a majority of all other income groups disagree. People of both sexes and every race also think crime is getting worse.
It isn’t surprising that affluent people can insulate themselves from spikes in crime—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Americans aren’t simply imagining that our streets have become more dangerous.
Mr. Lott is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. He served as senior adviser for research and statistics in the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department.
John R. Lott, Jr., “The Media Say Crime Is Going Down. Don’t Believe It: The decline in reported crimes is a function of less reporting, not less crime,” Wall Street Journal, April 24, 2024.
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Townhall
In 2023, New Orleans had the third highest per capita murder rate in the country according to the FBI. Last week, New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick claimed that the city can lower this rate by creating a“firearm-free” zone encompassing the French Quarter and beyond. Kirkpatrick is particularly concerned about the dangers of Louisiana’s new Constitutional Carry law.
But Kirkpatrick’s proposed gun-free zone will create a magnet for criminals to commit crimes in that area. To criminals, gun-free zones make victims easy targets.
Police are critical to stopping crime. Academic research shows that policing is probably the most important factor in reducing it. But the police themselves realize that they virtually always arrive at the crime scene after the crime has occurred.
New Orleans simply can’t protect people. In 2023, with only 938 officers on the New Orleans police force, response times averaged an incredible three hours. Even for emergencies, it took 36 minutes for police to respond, though that is down to just over 22 minutes so far in 2024.
Compare that to Los Angeles and New York, where emergency response times were 5.7 and 4.6 minutes.
Even if a crime victim can call the police, six minutes is a long time when seconds matter. Twenty-two or 36 minutes is a lifetime.
Law enforcement officers understand the importance of allowing people to defend themselves. PoliceOnesurveyed more than 15,000 police professionals across ranks and department sizes in 2013 and found that 91% of the members support liberally issuing concealed handgun permits.
The National Association of Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs is similarly supportive. Those are first responders who are on the scenes of these tragedies every day.
Academic criminologists and economists who have published peer-reviewed research on guns also agree. Surveys show that they had the same top four preferred policies for stopping murders and mass public shootings. This included letting people carry concealed handguns and abolishing gun-free zones.
Concealed carry permit holders are remarkably law-abiding. In the 19 states with comprehensive data, the average revocation rate for any reason is about one-tenth of 1%.
Louisiana’s data show an even lower rate of revocations, with only 207 revocations in 2023 out of over 270,000 permits. Permit holders are convicted of firearms-related violations at one-twelfth the rate that police officers are.
Research from the Crime Prevention Research Center has demonstrated that the two groups that benefit the most from carrying guns are the likeliest victims of crime — underprivileged Americans in high-crime, urban areas — and people who are physically weaker, such as women or the elderly.
People carrying concealed handguns deter criminals. If you still aren’t convinced, just read the manifestos and diaries from mass public shooters about why they picked the targets that they do.
The Biden administration has yet to release the Nashville school shooter’s manifesto, but Nashville Police Chief John Drake has seen it. “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” said Drake. Instead, the murderer picked the Covenant School because it did not have anyone to fight back with a gun.
These murderers count on gun-free zones to ensure that they will be the only armed person present. The perpetrator of the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooting wrote in his manifesto: “Areas where CCW [carrying a concealed weapon] permits are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack.” He worried that someone with a gun there could stop him. Many other mass murderers have made similar explicit statements. But what is most telling is the simple fact that 94% of mass public shootings occur in gun-free zones.
Regarding Kirkpatrick’s concerns about Constitutional Carry, which allows permitless concealed carry, peer-reviewed research shows that violent crime rates fall after states pass these laws. Given her concerns about cities being different Ohio’s Attorney General found that firearm crimes fell in Ohio’s eight most populous cities by 8%.
Gun-free zones are magnets for murderers. Even the most ardent gun control advocates would think twice before putting “Gun-Free Zone” signs on their homes. Let’s finally stop putting them elsewhere.
Lott is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and served as the Senior Advisor for Research and Statistics in the Office of Justice Programs and then the Office of Legal Policy at the US Department of Justice.
John R. Lott, Jr., “City where police emergency response time is 36 minutes wants to ban Civilians Carrying Guns for protection<” Townhall, April 24, 2024.
Craig Callaway, 64, is a sought-after political organizer and operative in and around Atlantic City, known for his ability to deliver large blocks of absentee ballots to election officials that often sway the outcome of elections. But he was arrested Thursday and charged with election fraud involving the misuse of absentee ballots — something of which his political foes had long accused him. . . .
Prosecutors said Callaway and others working at his direction paid people $30 to $50 to apply to be messengers for voters purportedly wishing to vote by mail.
They went to the county clerk’s office, signed the messenger portion of the ballot applications and received ballots to be given to the voters listed on the applications.
However, after receiving mail-in ballots, these purported messengers left the county clerk’s office and instead handed the ballots to Callaway or his subordinates, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Many of the mail-in ballots collected by Callaway or his subordinates were ultimately cast in the names of people who have confirmed that they did not vote in the 2022 general election – either in person or by mail, the office said. These voters also said they did not authorize Callaway, his subordinates, or anyone else, to cast ballots for them. Many of these mail-in ballots were counted in the election. . . .
Wayne Parry, “Former Atlantic City politician charged with election fraud involving absentee ballots,” Associated Press, February 2, 2024.
Former Councilman Craig Callaway, who has previously organized mail-in vote initiatives in the city, allegedly paid $30 each to messengers to deliver ballots that were filled out for Democrats, helping Gilliam secure an unlikely victory. . . .
Avalon Zoppo, “A tragic upbringing, fake degree, and FBI raid: Who is Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam?,” The Press of Atlantic City, December 11, 2018.
Craig Callaway is regularly characterized as a “prominent Democrat” and also here. While most of Europe bans absentee ballots, even the ten countries that allowed absentee ballots required that people had to go in person to pick up the ballots and to show a government issued photo ID. So Europe doesn’t face the possibility of this type of even from occurring.
According to police, officers were called at about 4:45 a.m. Monday to a residence off Granger Road and Long Avenue after the homeowner called 911 to report a burglary in progress.
Police say Mitchell was found inside, arrested and booked into Becker County Jail.
According to the criminal complaint, the home Mitchell is accused of burgling was her stepmother’s.
The stepmother called police to report someone had broken into her home. When officers arrived, the suspect — later identified as Mitchell — ran into the basement.
Mitchell was wearing black clothing and a black hat when officers found her in the basement, according to the complaint. They found a flashlight with a sock on it and a black backpack nearby. The backpack contained two laptops, a cellphone, Tupperware and identifying documents for Mitchell. . . .
“Clearly I’m not good at this,” she said, according to investigators, adding, “I know I did something bad.”
Investigators said Mitchell got into the house through a basement window.
Police questioned Mitchell about one of the laptops found in her bag, which, when turned on, had the stepmother’s name on it. She said her stepmother had given it to her, which the stepmother denied. . . .
Cole Premo, Anthony Bettin, Stepehn Swanson, “Minnesota State Senator Nicole Mitchell burgled stepmohter’s home to get fathers ashes, sentimental items, charges say,” CBS Minnesota, April 23, 2024.
The headline on the CBS news story minimizes what Mitchell was stealing, such as ignoring that Mitchell had stolen her stepmother’s personal computers.
“Her arrest comes at an awkward time for Senate Democrats, who hold just a one-seat majority with four weeks left in the legislative session. Her absence would make it difficult to pass any legislation that lacks bipartisan support.”
Steve Karnowski, “Minnesota state senator arrested on suspicion of burglary,” Associated Press, April 22, 2024.
Just last week (April 16, 2024), Senator Mitchell was again promoting her close ties with Bloomberg’s Moms Demand.
Dr. John Lott talked to Bobby Gunther on Philly’s WAEB-AM about the collapse in law enforcement. As arrest rates plummet, people have been less willing to report crime. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s new piece with Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) at The Federalist titled “Biden’s Federal ‘Red Flag’ Center Defies The Constitution In More Ways Than One.”
(Friday, April 5, 2024)
Dr. John Lott talked to Ryan Schuiling on Denver’s big KHOW-AM about Colorado’s gun-free zone expansion bill, a proposal to limit where people can carry firearms in the state.
(Friday, April 5, 2024, from 5:35 to 5:46 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Real Clear Politics. . After several road rage cases claimed the lives of children this summer, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham suspended the open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque and throughout Bernalillo County for the next 30 days. Grisham’s response will not make New Mexicans safer. […]
Dr. John Lott and Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) have a new piece at Newsweek. . President Joe Biden keeps telling Americans that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the gun control bill he signed last year, is the most significant gun control legislative accomplishment in nearly 30 years. He is right, but it will do nothing to improve safety. […]
The CPRC’s Director of Education, Kerry Slone, has her first op-ed at the Washington Times. The argument that gun control affects only law-abiding citizens has been at the core of debate for over 100 years. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s recent action inadvertently proved it true. When asked, “Do you really think that criminals […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on WHO Radio’s The Simon Conway Show to discuss his new op-ed at The Federalist on the lawsuit filed by Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown. (Wednesday, August 30, 2023, from 4:05 to 4:15 PM MT)
The Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen has forcefully pointed out that Governor Grisham’s ban on people carrying guns will only impact law-abiding people and will not improve safety. “The temporary ban challenges the foundations of our Constitution, but most importantly, it is unconstitutional. My oath was to protect the Constitution, and that is what I […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on the Armed American Radio show Live from Phoenix Arizona to discuss media bias on mass public shootings. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at The Federalist titled “Do Gun-Control Groups Care What Really Causes Mass Shootings? Everytown Lawsuit Says No.”
(Wednesday, August 27, 2023, from 8:05 to 9:00 PM ET)
The Crime Prevention Research Center (“CPRC”) has done a deep dive into the FBI’s Active Shooting Reports from 2014-2022 and discovered that the reports grossly underestimate the number of times armed civilians have stopped active shootings. The FBI says that civilians stop fewer than 5% of active shooters, while the actual data say that civilians, on average, stopped over 35% of active shooters, with the number going up to 63.5% if you include defensive use of guns outside of “gun-free guns” (which I call “shooting fish in a barrel” zones). . . . [much more here]
There is much more in the CPRC essay, so I urge you to review it yourself. I just wanted to focus on the top-line information: Once again, an organization that is hostile to a constitutional right manages (coincidentally, I’m sure) to pervert the available data in a way that supports its biases. . . .
Andrea Widburg, “The FBI massively erred about civilians stopping active shooters,” The American Thinker, September 10, 2023.
A new study reveals that “massive errors” in FBI active shooter reports have resulted in the bureau seriously undercounting how many times a “good guy with a gun” has come to the rescue to stop or diminish the destruction of an active shooting.
According to the report from the Crime Prevention Research Center, armed civilians have stopped attacks at a rate far higher than the mere 4.6 percent that the FBI reports.
In fact, in incidents that occurred outside of “gun-free zones,” an incredible 63 percent of attacks were stopped by legally armed citizens last year.
Overall, from 2014 to 2022 the real number stood at 35.7 percent of active shooters stopped by armed civilians, almost eight times the number cited by the FBI.
The CPRC concluded that “law-abiding citizens stopping these attacks are not rare.”
Carl Moody, the CPRC’s research director, also noted that “the data put together by the CPRC show that an armed citizen has yet to accidentally shoot an innocent bystander.”
So why the huge discrepancy between the FBI and CPRC numbers? . . . [the rest of the report contains errors in discussing our work]
Warner Todd Huston, “Study Shows ‘Good Guys with Guns’ Are Very Effective in Stopping Active Shooter Situations,” The Western Journal, September 9, 2023.
On August 31, statistics expert and long-time analyst of crime data, John Lott, Jr. wrote for RealClearPolitics that he has uncovered what he notes is a troubling FBI undercount of the power of armed citizens to stop criminal active shooters.
Anyone familiar with etymology will understand that the moment any arm of the state touches anything, it connects that thing to “the polis,” thus, making it “political” by definition. But, as Lott — author of numerous books on self-defense with firearms, and the government/media attacks on it – explains, the degree to which many political operators are willing to lie and produce false narratives about guns and crime is shocking. As he observes: . . .
The fact that violent crime is not a virulent “disease” is worth noting, as are the more fundamental points that, first, there is no provision for the CDC in the US Constitution, and, second, that, even if there were such a provision, it is not just or moral for the state to make us pay for our own disarmament. We have a fundamental right to self-defense – always. . . . [and much more here]
Gardner Goldsmith, “Crime Stats Expert Claims FBI, CDC Undercount Armed Civilians Who Stop Active Shooters,” MRC TV, September 6, 2023.
. . . John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, told The Fix on a phone interview that most mass shootings are due to gang violence.
Lott said “what most people think of when they talk about mass shootings or what is called mass public shootings are four or more people killed in a public place not involving some other type of crime like a robbery or gang fight over drug turf.”
But in reality “about 87 percent of those are basically gang fights that occur. Almost all the rest are things like a robbery or something where people are shot,” according to data from the pro-gun control group Gun Violence Archive.
The researchers used this database for their paper.
Gang fighting over drug turf increases as profit potential for selling drugs increases, Lott told The Fix.
The economist noted that the paper did not include “a reference to gangs and so to go and talk about structural racism and talk about the victims being black, the reason why the victims are black is because you have drug gangs in urban areas fighting against each other, over controlling drug turf.”
Lott said that it is not surprising to see gangs overwhelmingly involve minorities, nor is it a surprise to see gangs fighting against each other to control drug turf in urban areas.
MJ Cadman, “Mass shootings linked to ‘structural racism,’ professors say,” The Campus Fix, August 10, 2023.
As it turns out, though, the FBI’s disinformation operations aren’t limited to presidential elections. The bureau is also downplaying the importance of an armed citizenry. As Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott writes at RealClearPolitics: . . .
This isn’t just a rounding error. These are hugely influential discrepancies. As Lott writes: “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’s research also illuminates the life-saving difference that the Second Amendment affords us. “The FBI doesn’t differentiate between law-abiding citizens stopping attacks where guns are banned and where they are allowed,” he writes, “but you can’t expect law-abiding citizens to stop attacks where it is illegal to carry guns. In places where law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry firearms, the percentage of active shootings that were stopped is 51%. For 2022, that figure is a remarkable 63.5%.”
There’s no magic formula here: More guns = more self-defense.
Sadly, the FBI isn’t the only government agency that’s been politically compromised. Last year, at the request of anti-2A organizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed from the CDC website its estimates of defensive gun uses. As Lott adds: “For nearly a decade the CDC cited a 2013 National Academies of Sciences report showing that the annual number of people using guns to stop crime ranged from about 64,000 to 3 million. The CDC website listed the upper figure at 2.5 million. Mark Bryant, who runs the Gun Violence Archive, wrote to CDC officials after a meeting last year that the 2.5 million number ‘has been used so often to stop [gun control] legislation.’ The CDC’s estimates were subsequently taken down and now lists no numbers.”
What Lott’s research indicates is that there are a lot more good guys with guns out there than the FBI and the CDC would like you to believe — good guys like Eli Dicken, the young man whose quick and heroic actions on a Sunday evening last summer stopped a massacre in progress at Indiana’s Greenwood Park Mall.
Perhaps most troubling is that Lottt has alerted the FBI to numerous errors in its reporting of defensive gun uses, but the bureau has refused to correct its numbers. Thus, Lott’s organization is keeping an updated list. . . .
True that. But, as Lott concludes, the FBI doesn’t seem to think we can handle the truth about how some of the most cold-blooded killers are being stopped dead in their tracks by good guys with guns.
“The FBI data on active shootings is missing so many defensive gun uses that it’s hard to believe it isn’t intentional,” Lott writes. “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.” . . .
Douglas Andrews, “The Truth About Good Guys With Guns,” September 5, 2023.
And the left-wing totalitarian urge to suppress dissent surfaces yet again, this time at the far left Media Matters.
The issue, but of course, is gun control. And Dr. John Lott, the renowned gun control expert who has made a life’s work of studying gun control and its flaws, was in the sights of Media Matters even before this latest shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas that left 26 dead inside a small church.
Note the Media Matters headline in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting:
Discredited gun researcher John Lott’s misleading Las Vegas massacre claims are falling apart
Lott doesn’t want readers to know that strong gun regulations are associated with lower levels of homicideNote that description? “Discredited gun researcher” is how they describe Lott, who’s thorough research is anything but discredited. In fact Lott’s work is so thorough that a representative of the gun control-crazed Michael Bloomberg’s “Every town for Gun Safety” project refused outright to discuss guns with Lott on a C-SPAN show two years ago.
The other week Media Matters threw a fit when the Washington Post Fact Checker committed the cardinal sin of talking to Dr. Lott to help evaluate Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy’s claim on CNN that “What we know is that states that have tougher gun laws, that keep criminals from getting guns, that keep those dangerous weapons like AR-15s out of the hands of civilians, have dramatically lower rates of gun violence.” The Post fact-checker gave Murphy’s claim “three Pinocchios.” Media Matters approvingly quotes Dan Webster of the Bloomberg School of Public Health who instantly jumped on the liberal Post, saying: “I recognize that especially on an issue considered divisive like guns, media feel the need to report ‘both sides.’ But offering the opinions of widely-discredited pundits is not ‘presenting the other side.’”
In other words, Media Matters, using a Bloomberg spokesperson, is desperately trying to shut Lott up. Which, of course, is the MM routine. An organization that devotes itself to removing conservatives from television and radio surely has no problem in trying to silence one of the leading and most respected experts on gun control and the realities of its failures. . . .
“Media Matters Tries to Shut Down John Lott,” angelocarusone.com
The FBI appears to be cooking the books. At least, that seems to be what John Lott found. [Long quote from Lott]
The FBI has been made aware of this discrepancy. They’ve just elected not to do anything about it.
Honestly, though, that’s not surprising. We’ve all seen how various parts of the United States government have been weaponized in recent years, all to focus on a single side of the political spectrum. That’s generally the same side that favors gun rights. . . .
Tom Knighton, “Lott calls out FBI data on good guys stopping mass shootings,” Bearing Arms, September 5, 2023.
Everytown is suing just about everyone they can think of over the Buffalo mass shooting. They’re suing social media companies, a gun manufacturer, and even the company that makes body armor.
In their mind, all are responsible for what someone not named in the lawsuit did, all despite no one having broken any laws.
It’s a reach in many cases, of course, but that won’t stop them from trying.
Yet when John Lott looks at what they’re doing, he sees something important. . . .
Lott then makes the case that if we’re going to play the blame game, his thoughts on climate change implicate people like the mainstream media and President Joe Biden. His anti-capitalist comments warrant a lawsuit against people like AOC and Bernie Sanders, among others.
In other words, his motivations are ignored all in the name of punishing people who literally had no reason to do anything differently than they had.
Yet the big takeaway is that the killer explicitly noted the role gun control played in his target selection. He wanted an area with strict gun control laws so as to minimize his chances of being taken out before he could slaughter as many people as possible. . . .
Tom Knighton, “Lott: Gun control groups don’t care what causes mass shootings,” Bearing Arms, August 26, 2023.
In 2016, Canada legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide – which I will call assisted violence – under the legal name of “medical assistance in dying (MAiD).” It allows terminally ill adults to control their deaths; physicians can administer a cocktail of drugs similar to what’s used in the death penalty to end a person’s life. A couple of years ago, Canada expanded its assisted violence program to cover persons with disabilities and chronic diseases.
Since then, the number of assisted violence deaths in Canada has been growing steadily. The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) reports (archivedlinks): . . .
I was able to independently verify the numbers using the provided sources (the CDC and Statistics Canada websites).
Out of curiosity, I looked at the total firearms mortality rate for 2021, including homicides and suicides but excluding justifiable homicides, and found that it was 14.13 per 100,000 people. Using that as the denominator instead of just the suicide rate, we get 27.5/14.13 = 1.95. What that means is that the Canadian assisted violence rate is almost double that of the total American firearms mortality rate.
As the CPRC article notes, the numbers have been ramping up; the number of Canadian assisted violence deaths jumped up from 10,500 to 13,500 from 2021 to 2022. Canada’s relaxation of who qualifies for their assisted violence program will only drive the multiplier up in the future, especially as the American homicide rates are coming down even as gun sales are through the roof. . . .
Ranjit Singh, “Canada’s assisted violence death rate is 4.45 times the American firearm suicide rate,” Bearing Arms, August 18, 2023.
So, John Lott, an author, former professor, and the founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), decided to challenge all of the leading gun-control-promoting academics to a bet.
And this wouldn’t be some open-ended bet levelled at all possible challengers. Lott personally contacted a dozen gun-control-supporting academics and offered them a $1,000 wager on whether Brazil’s homicide rate will go up or down. If the homicide rate goes down as Brazil’s new leftist president enacts a long list of gun-control laws, Lott would pay them. If it goes up as the populace is choked with more gun-control laws, they would have to pay Lott. “The ultimate test of a theory is whether it accurately predicts what will happen,” said Lott, and these academics have predicted that gun bans will reduce the homicide rate.
He contacted Phil Cook, of Duke University; Jens Ludwig, of the University of Chicago; John Donohue, of Stanford Law School; Andrew Morral, of the Rand Corporation; Garen Wintemute, of the University of California, Davis; David Hemenway, of the School of Public Health, Harvard; Chris Koper, of George Mason University; Mark Siegel, of Boston University; Adam Winker, of the University of California, Los Angeles; Paul Helmke, of Indiana University; and Frank Zimring, of the University of California at Berkeley.
Lott notes that the media and gun-control advocates in academia predicted disaster in Brazil when Jair Messias Bolsonaro, who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 until 2022, allowed private gun ownership in the country to increase by over 600%. But then the homicide rate actually fell. Later, when the socialist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, often simply referred to as “Lula,” the 39th and current president of Brazil, took over on Jan. 1, 2023, and as he signed an executive order banning the sales of guns and ammunition, banning concealed carry and more, many of these academics predicted that murder rates would fall.
“Well, they were wrong that Bolsonaro’s policy would increase murders,” said Lott. “The murder rate fell dramatically under Bolsonaro.” And now, months after Lott challenged these academics to put their money behind their publicly stated opinions, “none were willing to bet me,” said Lott.
Lott explained that 7 of the 12 didn’t respond to his emails. But Duke University’s Phil Cook did write back to say, “I like the idea of a bet, but am not going to take this one, since I have no confidence that guns and ammo will actually become scarcer in the neighborhoods with high rates of violence.”
Yes, criminals will likely keep their guns.
Stanford’s John Donohue answered to say researchers should look at past data rather than making predictions. Lott pointed out that Donohue hadn’t shied away from making many predictions in the past; for example, Donohue wrote in The Washington Post last year after the Supreme Court’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision: “We unfortunately know what effects this ruling will have in the relatively few states that still restrict the carrying of weapons. … It will cause a spike in violent crime.”
“These academics have no problem confidently making predictions for the press or legislative committees about the future effects of gun-control laws. But they aren’t willing to put their money where their mouths are in a way that would make people remember their bad predictions. Maybe that’s because they already know the crime-fighting benefits of private gun ownership,” said Lott.
The bet is an important one, as here we have a large nation that loosened gun restrictions for several years before a new administration came in and implemented gun-control laws designed to disarm law-abiding people. If gun-control laws work, as these academics, President Joe Biden (D), many in the mainstream media and others claim they do, then murder rates should have gone up under Bolsonaro and they should fall under Lula.
As Lula had only been in office for six months as this was being written, we don’t yet have comparable violent-crime statistics from Lula’s freedom-ending regime, but it is telling that not one of these researchers has been confident enough in their policy predictions to bet Lott.
One reason must be that, before Bolsonaro became president, Brazil was ranked as the world’s most-murderous country. But, during Bolsonaro’s administration, something changed. Homicide rates tumbled somewhere between 27 and 34%. This occurred at a time when former President Bolsonaro enabled law-abiding Brazilians to acquire firearms more freely.
As of earlier this year, there were an estimated 1.9 million registered citizen firearms in Brazil; this is a significant leap from around 695,000 when Bolsonaro was first elected, according to data from Brazil’s army and police, that was analyzed by Brazilian security think tank Sou da Paz. . . . [more gun out]
As for Lott, he says he is not surprised that the dozen gun-control-promoting academics he contacted wouldn’t put a little money behind their claims. “It was a serious bet,” says Lott. “I went public with it because people need to know what the research actually says about the benefits of their freedom.”
John R. Lott, Jr., “A Brazil-Sized Problem … for Gun-Control Groups,” America’s First Freedom, August 29, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Erskine on TruthExpress Radio about his new op-ed piece at Townhall titled “On Biden’s Newest False Claims About Guns.” They also discussed the problems with Red Flag Laws.
(Saturday, September 2, 2023)
Dr. John Lott, President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, appeared on the Talk Back program to discuss his talks in Brazil and Ecuador. He also answered the audience’s gun violence-related questions.
(Wednesday, August 23, 2023, from 8:30 to 10:00 AM MT)
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about the recent murder at the University of North Carolina and the attempted attack in Florida at a local historically Black college, Edward Waters University. A security guard chased away the attacker from the school, and he then murdered three people at a Dollar General store. Both the universities were gun-free zones. The murderer at the Univesity of North Carolina looks to have been legally banned from owning a gun.
(Tuesday, August 29, 2023 from 4:35 to 4:50 PM)
Vicki’s show covers most of Wisconsin and part of the Minneapolis area in Minnesota (WISN, WIBA, WMEQ).
Dr. John Lott talked to Vince Coglianese on WMAL about the recent murder at the University of North Carolina and the attempted attack in Florida at a local historically Black college, Edward Waters University. A security guard chased away the attacker from the school, and he then murdered three people at a Dollar General store. Both the universities were gun-free zones. The murderer at the Univesity of North Carolina looks to have been legally banned from owning a gun.
(Tuesday, August 29, 2023, from 4:06 to 4:22 PM)
Dr. John Lott talked to the guest host Bob Frantz on America First with Sebastian Gorka about active shooting cases that were averted by people legally carrying guns. See more here. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at The Federalist on the lawsuit filed by Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown.
(Friday, August 25, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Colion Noir about the CPRC’s new research on errors in the FBI’s Active Shooting reports.
In a time when the nation debates policing and gun control, our reliance on government data should be unwavering. However, it appears that politics has seeped into the very fabric of data handling at agencies like the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control with new data by John Lott Jr.
Colion Noir, “Active Shooters Get Stopped By Armed Citizens Over 41 Percent According To New Data By John Lott Jr,” YouTube, September 6, 2023.
Wednesday, September 6, 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on Sunday Night with Bill Cunningham to discuss his new op-ed at The Federalist titled “Do Gun-Control Groups Care What Really Causes Mass Shootings? Everytown Lawsuit Says No.” They also discussed the Biden administration withholding funding from schools with hunting and archery programs and guns being the best way to protect female victims of Domestic Violence.
(Sunday, September 3, 2023)
The president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, Dr. John Lott, talked to John Hines with One America News about new research released by the Crime Prevention Research Center that the FBI is missing many defensive gun uses in their active shooting reports. The research raises questions about whether politics has infected the reporting of gun crimes at the FBI and CDC.
(Tuesday, September 5, 2023)
Dr. John Lott appeared on One America’s News’ Tipping Point about his article at The Federalist titled: “Do Gun-Control Groups Care What Really Causes Mass Shootings? Everytown Lawsuit Says No.”
Lott: “Well you know, obviously , they just want to make it costly for gun sellers to be in business. Unfortunately it would be nice if they actually read the manifesto for the murderer. They wanna go and blame this gun store. They want to blame the murderers’ parents. They want to go and blame social media for supposedly putting out conservative views that radicalized this guy, but if they actually read the manifesto, they would find that none of those things are relevant or accurate. You look at the discussion that the murderer had in his manifesto about why he picked the target that he did. He goes on, and has a long discussion there. He wanted to go after a place where people were banned from having concealed handgun permits because you said it would make it easier for him to go and kill other people. These killers, and this is something we see time after time, though the media refuses to report these parts of these diaries and manifestos. These guys may be crazy in some sense, but they’re not stupid. Their goal. Is to get media attention, and they know the more people they kill, the more media attention that they’re going to get. And they know if they go to a place for victims can’t defend themselves they’re going to be able to go and kill more people. It’s not difficult to understand their reasoning. And they couldn’t be more explicit whether it’s something like the Covenant School shooter in Nashville earlier this year or literally dozens of other cases. The media doesn’t cover it. And then as far as blaming the parents for this murderer’s rampage, The murderer had actually gone and been seen by two psychiatrists who had said that the individual wasn’t a danger to himself or others. So if these mental health care experts are unable to identify them and they’re given a pass. Why go after the parents there other than just to try to instill fear in their parents there with regard to their kids.”
“And he was far as the social media putting out conservative posts and stuff. If they actually read his manifesto, they would see that the guy was a racist because he was an environmentalist. Whether it’s The New York Times, the Washington Post or others, if somebody is a racist, they immediately call them a conservative or right winger. And yet, many of these guys are not even close. I mean, the guy calls himself an eco-fascist, calls himself a socialist. He calls himself a mild manner, authoritarian left-winger, You know he’s upset about people having kids. The reason why he hates minorities, and blacks in particular, is that he thinks people are having too many children and that’s destroying the environment. And it is particularly blacks that are having too many children. How many conservatives do you know there are upset about people having children? How many conservatives do you know that call themselves Socialists or call themselves eco-fascist?”
Dr. John Lott spoke at the Brazil SHOT Fair in Jonesville on August 4, 2023. He focused on the changes in gun control in Brazil, and the bet that he offered with various gun control-supporting academics. Some discussion is in Portuguese, but Lott’s talk is in English.
Former senior advisor for research and statistics for the U.S. Department of Justice, John R Lott Jr., claims the FBI has misreported how many armed citizens have stopped active shooters.
Lott had the task of evaluating the FBI’s active shooting reports. He found the bureau had missed and misidentified cases regarding armed citizens stopping active shooters, Lott reported. The former senior advisor claims the correct rate of armed citizens stopping active shooters is almost eight times higher than the FBI’s claim of 14 of 302 from 2014-2022.
“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.”
Lott identified that a portion of the misreporting comes as a result of the FBI not differentiating between law-abiding citizens stopping attacks where guns are banned and where they are allowed.
“In places where law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry firearms, the percentage of active shootings that were stopped is 51%. For 2022, that figure is a remarkable 63.5%.”
Lott details he made the errors known to the FBI but was dismissed, according to Real Clear Politics.
“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”
Mia Hernandez, “FBI Misleads Americans About How Often Armed Citizens Stop Active Shooters, Gun Violence Expert Claims,” Daily Caller, August 31, 2023. Also published at Microsoft News.
A large percentage of “active shooter” incidents are thwarted by armed citizens who sometimes don’t even fire their weapons, but those cases are no longer counted under President Joe Biden’s pro-gun control policies.
According to just-released data from the Crime Prevention Research Center, 41% of active shooting incidents were stopped by armed civilians.
Outside of so-called gun-free zones, which bar the legal carrying of firearms, over 63% of active shooting cases were ended by an armed civilian, according to the center.
The new data from John R. Lott Jr., the former Justice Department senior adviser for research and statistics, are his latest to challenge undercounting and bias in government reports on shootings and back up efforts by Second Amendment and police groups to encourage people to carry firearms.
Lott continually updates his data to include all the cases, including those the government overlooks or misclassifies, to counter media reports that it is rare for civilians to put down active shooters. His information is especially critical since the Biden administration stopped counting defensive actions by civilians.
Following the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, famously held a press conference to decry the shooting and offer a solution. He said, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.”
Liberal anti-gun groups and media allies mocked the comments, but they have been unable to come up with a winning solution to stopping often deranged shooters. Lott’s data show that LaPierre was likely correct.
Of 440 cases he cited from 2014-2022, 157 active shootings were stopped by an armed civilian. By comparison, the FBI cited fewer cases, 302, and even fewer thwarted by armed civilians, 14.
The FBI data from 2014-2022 have led the media to call the interventions rare. Lott said the FBI data often misclassify cases, do not dig deeper than skimpy police reports, or wrongly identify the civilian with the gun as a security guard.
“Evidence compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center shows that the sources the media relied on undercounted the number of instances in which armed citizens have thwarted such attacks by an order of more than 10, saving untold numbers of lives. Of course, law-abiding citizens stopping these attacks are not rare. What is rare is national news coverage of those incidents,” Lott’s new report shared with Secrets on Friday said.
“The FBI reports that armed citizens only stopped 14 of the 302 active shooter incidents it identified for the period 2014-2022. The FBI defines active shooter incidents as those in which an individual actively kills or attempts to kill people in a populated, public area. But it does not include those it deems related to other criminal activity, such as a robbery or fighting over drug turf,” he added. Those types of shootings, however, have recently been included in cases of “mass shootings” by several media outlets.
In his updated report, he also made this argument:
“An analysis by the CPRC identified a total of 440 active shooter incidents during that period and found that an armed citizen stopped 157. A previous report looked at only instances when armed civilians stopped what likely would have been mass public shootings. There were another 27 cases that we didn’t include where armed civilians stopped armed attacks, but the suspect didn’t fire his gun. Those cases are excluded from our calculations, though it could be argued that a civilian also stopped what likely could have been an active shooting event.”
“The FBI reported that armed citizens thwarted 4.6% of active shooter incidents, while the CPRC found 35.7%.”
“Two factors explain this discrepancy — one, misclassified shootings; and two, overlooked incidents. Regarding the former, the CPRC determined that the FBI reports had misclassified five shootings: In two incidents, the Bureau notes in its detailed write-up that citizens possessing valid firearms permits confronted the shooters and caused them to flee the scene. However, the FBI did not list these cases as being stopped by armed citizens because police later apprehended the attackers. In two other incidents, the FBI misidentified armed civilians as armed security personnel. Finally, the FBI failed to mention citizen engagement in one incident.”
He added, “As for the second factor — overlooked cases — the FBI, more significantly, missed 35 incidents identified by CPRC where what would likely have been a mass public shooting was thwarted by armed civilians. There were another 103 active shooting incidents that they missed.”
Finally, he broke out shootings that occurred outside of gun-free zones where, presumably, those with concealed carry permits enter without their weapons as required by law. . . . [more is available in the article]
Paul Bedard, “Over 60% of ‘active shooters’ stopped by ‘good guy with a gun’,” Washington Examiner, September 1, 2023.
A report from John R. Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), shows that from 2014 to 2022 armed citizens stopped active shooters eight times more often than the FBI claimed.
In the report, excerpts of which Lott published on Real Clear Politics, he noted, “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.”
He observed, “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%.”
Despite Lott’s findings and the findings of CPRC, the FBI’s data has not been adjusted. Lott highlighted this by pointing to an email he received in 2015 in which the FBI admitted the Lott had uncovered an example they had missed of an armed citizen stopping an active shooter. Despite the admission, “the FBI database never added the incident.”
Lott suggested that “political pressure” may be causal in the FBI’s hesitance to correct the record:
Up until January of 2021, I worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as the senior advisor for research and statistics, and part of my job was to evaluate the FBI’s active shooting reports. I showed the bureau that many cases were missing and that others had been misidentified. Yet, the FBI continues to report that armed citizens stopped only 14 of the 302 active shooter incidents that it identified for the period 2014-2022. The correct rate is almost eight times higher. And if we limit the discussion to places where permit holders were allowed to carry, the rate is eleven times higher.
Lott concludes, “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,” he writes. “The reality is that armed, law-abiding citizens are unsung guardian angels.”
AWR Hawkins, “Report: Armed Citizens Stop Active Shooters 8x More Often Than FBI Claims,” Breitbart, August 31, 2023.
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. . . . . [more available here]
Jeff Charles, “Anti-Gunners Don’t Want You to Read This: The Truth About Armed Citizens Stopping Mass Shootings,” Red State, September 2, 2023.
The FBI is going off the rails.
Rogue federal agencies are probably the greatest threat to the liberty of the American people. They present more of a threat than drug cartels or terrorists because they operate under the pretext of law and have a legal monopoly on the initial use of force to compel compliance.
Now, Dr. John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and the author of “Gun Control Myths,” is exposing how the FBI may well be deliberately misleading the American people on how often armed Americans really do stop active shooter incidents. Dr. Lott points out that there are a number of problems with how the FBI gathers and presents this data, starting with how shootings are defined and categorized.
The FBI defines active shooter incidents as those in which an individual actively kills or attempts to kill people in a populated, public area. But it does not include shootings that are deemed related to other criminal activity, such as robbery or fighting over drug turf. Active shootings may involve just one shot being fired at just one target, even if the target isn’t hit.
To compile its list, the FBI hired academics at the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University. Police departments don’t collect data, so the researchers had to find news stories about these incidents.
Did you get that? They relied on a third-hand source to gather data, data that will be presented to try to influence policy. To call this sloppy work is the grossest of understatements. Dr. Lott’s organization did its own research and, unsurprisingly, came up with a different result.
Unfortunately, the news media unquestioningly reports the FBI numbers. After 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken used his legally-carried concealed handgun to stop what would have been a mass public shooting, an Associated Press headline noted: “Rare in US for an active shooter to be stopped by bystander.” A Washington Post headline proclaimed: “Rampage in Indiana a rare instance of armed civilian ending mass shooting.”
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. We found these cases on a budget of just a few thousand dollars. Though we found that armed citizens had stopped eight times as many cases as the FBI claims, I make no assertion that we unearthed all of these stories. It is quite possible that the news media itself never covers many such incidents.
I would say that it’s not only quite possible but indeed quite likely that the news media never covers many such incidents, but not having done my own research, I will defer to Dr. Lott on this. But it’s undeniable that the FBI and the legacy media are badly underestimating and under-reporting the numbers of active shooters taken down by armed citizens, just as they do other incidents of defensive gun use.
This is another example of the FBI’s ongoing deterioration, devolving from what was once a premier law enforcement agency to a barely concealed advocacy group for ever-more-intrusive government policy. They have acted in many cases as the political Left’s enforcement arm against such disparate groups as Catholics and elderly protestors. The FBI has arguably gone rogue, and the answer may well be to simply defund the agency, disband it, and start from scratch. There is, after all, already a Federal law-enforcement arm that predates the FBI by many years – the U.S. Marshals – and they do not appear (yet) to suffer from the failures in leadership that are plaguing the FBI. . . .
Ward Clark, “Firearms Researcher Dr. John Lott: FBI Is Deliberately Misleading Americans on Defensive Gun Use,” Red State, August 31, 2023.
I doubt there’s a more maligned character in the debate over gun rights than Dr. John Lott. Just ask any gun control activist. They can’t stand him. His research often refutes their favorite narratives. His command of the data often leaves them little refuge. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and talk with Dr. Lott on occasion since 2018. I’ve found him knowledgable, willing to test a hypothesis, willing to have his ideas and research challenged. In short, when I look back at his work, I’m convinced it’s less about defining gun policy and more about getting to a set of facts that should influence gun policy. Hence the animus.
In his latest article in Real Clear Politics raises critical concerns about the credibility of government data, specifically from the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in the ongoing debate on policing and gun control in the United States. Lott argues that these agencies have been influenced by political agendas, thereby skewing the data on the efficacy of defensive gun use and the actual number of active shooter incidents that are stopped by armed citizens. Let’s parse his critique.
The CDC and Defensive Gun Use
Lott begins his critique by calling out the CDC for removing its estimates on defensive gun use at the request of gun control organizations. According to Lott, for nearly a decade, the CDC cited a range of 64,000 to 3 million annual incidents where people used guns defensively. The removal of these numbers from the CDC’s website, Lott suggests, indicates political influence affecting empirical data, thereby obstructing honest discourse on gun control. As reported by The Reload, it appears gun control groups were at the source of the take down. So why did the CDC capitulate? It’s pretty clear that gun control activists and the Biden Administration dislike any discussion of defensive gun uses and will stop at to block any narrative which furthers a citizen’s right to defend themselves and or the fact that firearms are used quite frequently in self-defense. With over 496 defensive gun uses in 2023, with 147 in just in the past 90 days, the Defensive Gun Use tracker hosted by the Heritage Foundation shows how often firearms are used by Americans to defend themselves.
The FBI and Active Shooter Incidents
Lott’s main contention with the FBI centers around its reporting of active shooter incidents, specifically the role of armed citizens in stopping these events. He alleges that the FBI’s count is severely underestimated and that his organization, the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), found the real rate to be nearly eight times higher. Lott claims that if the focus is narrowed to places where carrying firearms is permitted, the rate is eleven times higher. In fact, Lott’s research tells 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.
Lott criticizes the FBI for relying on news reports to compile data, implying that such a method is inherently flawed. While it’s true that using media coverage can lead to underreporting or misreporting, it’s the FBI’s lack of follow up that ensures its data is in error. Their unwillingness to improve their data collection methods, even after multiple requests to correct it, sure smacks of bias.
Glenn Kessler reporting as “The Fact Checker” for the Washington Post called out the FBI, citing their own report,
But the FBI reports, though often cited by the news media, have numerous errors and, by the FBI’s own admission, are not necessarily complete or even consistent in how certain criteria are applied. “Incidents identified in this study do not encompass all gun-related situations; therefore caution should be taken when using this information without placing it in context,” the FBI said when it issued its first report.
The primary issue here is not necessarily methodology, but intent. Does the FBI follow up on those news stories with local law enforcement to get a more accurate and complete picture of the defensive gun use? With the FBI’s massive budget, they certainly could do a better job of following up on the incidents, as Lott’s organization has with “a budget of a few thousand dollars.” As Lott rightly points out, “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.”
Avoiding repeated questions by Kessler, the FBI responded,
We have no additional information to provide other than what is provided within the active shooter reports on our website.
When the self-proclaimed “defenders of democracy” like the Washington Post get the run around from the FBI, it lends credence to Lott’s assertions. Irrespective of one’s stance on gun control, the credibility of data used in shaping public policy is of utmost importance. If government agencies are providing inaccurate information—either intentionally or even inadvertently, and are unwilling to correct it—it hampers the ability to form effective policies and deepens public mistrust in essential institutions.
John R. Lott’s research is a provocation that should encourage further examination of how data on policing and gun control is collected and presented. Above all, this debate underscores the need for transparent, reliable data collection methods that can serve as the foundation for public policy decisions. The news media, when using FBI data should disclaim that the data as the FBI did and should consider giving stories about defensive firearms uses more airtime.
Ryan Petty, “An honest debate about gun violence statistics,” Bearing Arms, September 1, 2023.
A report from John R. Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), shows that from 2014 to 2022 armed citizens stopped active shooters eight times more often than the FBI claimed.
In the report, excerpts of which Lott published on Real Clear Politics, he noted, “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.”
He observed, “While the FBI claims that just 4.6% of active shootings were stopped by law-abiding citizens . . .“Armed Citizens Stop Active Shooters 8X More Often Than FBI Claims,” Political Signal, September 1, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Carl Jackson about his recent op-ed titled: “Do Gun-Control Groups Care What Really Causes Mass Shootings? Everytown Lawsuit Says No.” They also discussed Lott’s experience in working in the Federal government and the recent shootings in Florida and North Carolina. (Wednesday, August 30, 2023)
Dr. John Lott appeared on the Armed American Radio show to discuss the lawsuit, filed by the witnesses of the Buffalo mass shooting, against social media and gun companies. He pointed out that Buffalo Mass Murderer targeted “areas, where CCW are outlawed or prohibited, may be good areas of attack” and “areas with strict gun […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Bill Martinez Show to discuss the devastating wildfires in Maui. Company says request for water to fight wildfire delayed for hours while state agency consulted with farmers. The government agency, led by a man who has pushed for “water equity” cut the water off to firemen and residents. They also discussed the deep-running corruption in the FBI. FBI agent says Biden transition team, Secret Service were tipped off on 2020 plans to interview Hunter Biden.
(Monday, August 21, 2023, from 9:32 to 9:58 AM ET)
Kerry Slone talked on Chicago’s most popular morning talk program, WIND-AM’s Morning Answer, about her new piece at Townhall titled, “Why Aren’t Female Victims of Domestic Violence Told the Best Way to Protect Themselves?” Friday, August 11, 2023
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Real Clear Politics about our newest report on errors in the FBI Active Shooting Reports.
Americans are constantly debating policing and gun control. But to discuss these issues, we have to depend on government crime data. Unfortunately, politics has infected the data handling of agencies such as the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control.
Last year, the CDC became the center of controversy when it removed its estimates of defensive gun uses from its website at the request of gun control organizations. For nearly a decade the CDC cited a 2013 National Academies of Sciences report showing that the annual number of people using guns to stop crime ranged from about 64,000 to 3 million. The CDC website listed the upper figure at 2.5 million.
Mark Bryant, who runs the Gun Violence Archive, wrote to CDC officials after a meeting last year that the 2.5 million number “has been used so often to stop [gun control] legislation.” The CDC’s estimates were subsequently taken down and now lists no numbers.
The FBI is also susceptible to political pressure. Up until January of 2021, I worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as the senior advisor for research and statistics, and part of my job was to evaluate the FBI’s active shooting reports. I showed the bureau that many cases were missing and that others had been misidentified. Yet, the FBI continues to report that armed citizens stopped only 14 of the 302 active shooter incidents that it identified for the period 2014-2022. The correct rate is almost eight times higher. And if we limit the discussion to places where permit holders were allowed to carry, the rate is eleven times higher.
The FBI defines active shooter incidents as those in which an individual actively kills or attempts to kill people in a populated, public area. But it does not include shootings that are deemed related to other criminal activity, such as robbery or fighting over drug turf. Active shootings may involve just one shot being fired at just one target, even if the target isn’t hit.
To compile its list, the FBI hired academics at the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University. Police departments don’t collect data, so the researchers had to find news stories about these incidents.
It isn’t surprising that people will miss cases or occasionally misidentify them when using news stories, but the FBI was unwilling to fix its errors when I pointed them out. My organization, the Crime Prevention Research Center, has found many more missed cases and is keeping an updated list. Back in 2015, I published a list of missed cases in a criminology publication.
Unfortunately, the news media unquestioningly reports the FBI numbers. After 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken used his legally-carried concealed handgun to stop what would have been a mass public shooting, an Associated Press headline noted: “Rare in US for an active shooter to be stopped by bystander.” A Washington Post headline proclaimed: “Rampage in Indiana a rare instance of armed civilian ending mass shooting.”
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.
We found these cases on a budget of just a few thousand dollars. Though we found that armed citizens had stopped eight times as many cases as the FBI claims, I make no assertion that we unearthed all of these stories. It is quite possible that the news media itself never covers many such incidents.
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%.
The FBI doesn’t differentiate between law-abiding citizens stopping attacks where guns are banned and where they are allowed, but you can’t expect law-abiding citizens to stop attacks where it is illegal to carry guns. In places where law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry firearms, the percentage of active shootings that were stopped is 51%. For 2022, that figure is a remarkable 63.5%.
In order to follow the FBI’s definition, we excluded 27 cases because a law-abiding person with a gun stopped the attacker before he was able to get off a shot.
In an email I received in 2015, a bureau official acknowledged that “the FBI did not come across this incident during its research in 2015, but it does meet the FBI’s active-shooter definition.” The official noted they will miss active-shooter cases because the reports “are limited in scope.” Yet, the FBI database never added the incident.
When the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler reached out to the FBI for comments on our earlier work up through 2021, they emailed: “We have no additional information to provide other than what is provided within the active shooter reports on our website.”
However, a researcher at Texas State University did respond to two of the cases we had identified in our earlier work. He argued that one case involving a shooting at a dentist office was excluded because it involved a domestic dispute and another at a strip club because it was a “retaliation murder.” We list 14 examples where the FBI list includes shooting resulting from domestic disputes and three others where a shooting started after someone was denied entry to a lounge or bar. So why the double standard? Domestic disputes and “retaliation murders” are only included when they don’t involve permit holders stopping the attacks.
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.
John R. Lott, Jr., “FBI Data on Active Shootings Is Misleading,” Real Clear Politics, August 31, 2023.
The Crime Prevention Research Center’s Nikki Goeser spoke at the press conference at the start of the special session. Nikki spoke with Mark Walters on Armed American Radio about the Tennessee state legislature’s special session on gun control. Wednesday, August 23, 2023.
Data: For convenience, a PDF of the Excel file is also available here and a webpage with the list and links to the underlying news stories. FBI Active Shooting reports are available here (2000-2013), here (2014-2015), here (2016-2017), here (2018), here (2019), here (2020), here (2021), and here (2022). The updated FBI list of cases for 2000 to 2018 is available here. Introduction The shooting that […]
The law is clear that someone admitted under a student visa is banned under any circumstances that would apply to the student who murdered his professor at the University of North Carolina on Monday. North Carolina also bans guns on college campuses. BATF: “Generally, “nonimmigrant aliens” are tourists, students, business travelers and temporary workers who […]
The murderer’s original target was a local historically Black college, Edward Waters University. After students alerted a security guard to the stranger on campus, the attacker was chased from the school. We have put together a long list of mass murderers who have clearly picked targets where victims are defenseless. Florida is a state that […]
Thursday, August 24, 2023. The CPRC’s Kerry Slone talked to Dr. Mark Young on the Blunt Force Truth podcast. Here is what Blunt Force Truth posted on their website. Mark introduces us to our guest right away Kerry Slone (bio below). Kerry jumps in and gives us a little background into her history. She is […]
People can have guns on their property within 1,000 feet of a school, but Gabriel Metcalf stepped onto the sidewalk in front of his school and got arrested. He didn’t realize the sidewalk was not classified as part of his property. The man is being held in jail.
Dr. John Lott talked to Mike Opelka on Philadelphia’s giant 50,000-watt WPHT about Delaware’s new restrictions on where people can carry permitted concealed handguns. For example, they are banning the carrying of concealed handguns within a 1,000 feet of a school, which will make it impossible to travel in any cities, such as Wilmington. Delaware’s […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Mike Opelka on Philadelphia’s big WPHT-AM about the moves by Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland that is trying to subvert the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision regarding permitted concealed handguns. After the Supreme Court forced those states to start issuing more concealed handgun permits, the states have made it […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Andrew Langer on the Michigan Talk Network about his piece at Townhall titled: “Biden’s recent false claims about guns.” Wednesday, August 16, 2023 from 8:45 to 9:00 AM.
News media bias shows up in many ways. One way biases arise is by reporters using answers from one question for another. That happened in this case for our Nikki Goeser. Nikki was largely responsible for the idea behind the Lifetime Order of Protection. The interview made it look like Nikki favored giving stalkers convicted […]
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at The Federalist on the lawsuit filed by Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown. . The lessons from the Buffalo shooting are right in the killer’s manifesto, but gun-control groups like Everytown don’t care. . The Biden administration has already put nearly 2,000 gun sellers out of business in just two years. Just […]
In 2021, an idea that Nikki Goeser had became law in Tennessee. Before that law, an order of protection only lasted for one year. Each year, the person who wanted to be protected had to go back to court with some new evidence to get the protection order renewed for another year. Nikki’s law changed […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on One America News Network’s Tipping Point to discuss D.C. approving an emergency public safety bill to address rising crime rates in the city. D.C.’s city council chairman says criminals can get away with literal murder in his district – is it enough for Democrats to make real changes after years of […]
Another concealed handgun permit holder stopped a carjacking in Chicago. A Chicago man who received probation in a carjacking case late last year got shot this month while trying to carjack a rideshare driver at gunpoint, prosecutors say. Darick Benson, 20, was ordered held without bail by Judge Charles Beach on a fresh charge of […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on Del Dia a la Noche to discuss how to cut crime and improve security in Ecuador. He pointed out that not only the victims are affected, but also the whole community will be plagued by high crime rates. (Tuesday, August 8, 2023)
Dr. John Lott and Kerry Slone, CPRC’s new Executive Director of Education, appeared on Radio Sucre 700 AM’s Con Usted in Ecuador to discuss the country’s recent problems with crimes and the critical role that guns played in self-defense. (Monday, August 7, 2023, from 8:00 to 8:30 AM Ecuador time)
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called for a special session for the legislature to consider gun control laws in response to the Covenant School shooting in Nashville in March 2023. The Crime Prevention Research Center’s Nikki Goeser spoke at the press conference at the start of the special session. Monday, August 21, 2023 Pictures Nikki with […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Meyer on Medford, Oregon’s KMED-AM about our work on the defensive gun use cases that the FBI’s Active Shooting reports has missed. Thursday, August 17, 2023.
Kerry Slone, the Executive Director of Education at the Crime Prevention Research Center, talked to Aline Kanyo at Shot Fair 2023 in Brazil about how women should protect themselves from violence. See also Kerry’s new op-ed at Townhall titled “Why Aren’t Female Victims of Domestic Violence Told the Best Way to Protect Themselves?“ (Wednesday, August […]
The Babylon Bee relies on some discussions from the CPRC website. Some of their video is clearly taken directly from our video with John Stossel about mass public shootings in countries worldwide. The comparisons they made to other countries’ rates of mass public shootings are from our research, available here. This statement about the US […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The News and Why it Matters on BlazeTV to discuss the Biden Administration’s recent move to defund schools that offer hunter safety and archery programs. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Townhall titled “Biden Will Withhold Federal Funding From Schools With Hunting, Archery Programs.” (The News and Why It […]
Mr. Tom Harris of the Sporting Arms Co. of Lewisville, Texas, is a disabled individual and father of five who makes his income from his home-based FFL. Apparently, Harris had some small paperwork mistakes fifteen and sixteen years ago. The ATF cleared him, but now the Biden administration, under their zero-tolerance policy, is revisiting those […]
At 2 PM on August 11th, 54-year-old Sandra Tracy shot and killed Jayson Magrum, who is a registered sex offender with an extensive criminal record, who was breaking into your Three Points, Arizona home. Three Points is a rural unincorporated, thinly populated area of about 5,500 people about 30 miles southwest of Tucson. Houses are […]
Kerry Slone, the Executive Director of Education at the Crime Prevention Research Center, talked to Lars Larson on his Northwest radio show about her new op-ed at Townhall titled “Why Aren’t Female Victims of Domestic Violence Told the Best Way to Protect Themselves?“ (Wednesday, August 2, 2023, from 5:35 to 5:45 PM ET) The Lars […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on the Armed American Radio show about Biden cutting funding to schools with hunter classes. It is hard to see how eliminating hunter safety classes will make people safer. Nor is it clear how this will help wildlife. See more here. (Sunday, July 30, 2023, from 9:35 to 10:00 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott and Kerry Slone appeared on Radio Morena 640 AM’s MORENA NOTICIAS SEGUNDA EMISIÓN, the largest and top-rated show in Ecuador, to discuss the country’s safety problems. Kerry Slone, CPRC’s new Executive Director of Education, also talks about the best way for women to protect themselves, which is with a gun. (Monday, August 7, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Gary Nolan on KSSZ-FM across central Missouri about Mom’s Demand Action’s Shannon Watts blocking Lott on Twitter and his piece at the Federalist about how surveys on gun control are slanted. (Saturday, July 22, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed piece at Townhall. . On Saturday, President Biden tweeted his support for an assault weapons ban, for safe storage requirements, for holding gun manufacturers liable for gun crimes, and for enacting universal background checks. Unfortunately, all of these measures will either have no effect or will increase crime. . We […]
Television show bias against guns is never-ending. It is exceedingly rare to see an entertainment television show with a civilian successfully using a gun defensively. Instead, something always seems to go wrong when guns are used defensively (from being fatally shot by the criminal without stopping the crime to getting in the way of police to continually having the gun stolen and used in a crime […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on What’s On Your Mind with Scott Hennen to discuss the spike in gun violence among red and blue states and its relationship to various gun laws. (Wednesday, August 2, 2023, from 10:35 to 10:55 AM CDT) What’s On Your Mind is statewide across North Dakota on KFYR 550 AM Bismarck, […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Malzberg on his TNT Radio Show. They discussed the Hunter Biden plea bargain and pieces that Lott had the Federalist and Townhall. At The Federalist: Biden’s Latest Anti-Gun Claims Aren’t Just False — They Don’t Even Make Sense At Townhall: Can Democrats Even Believe What They Are Claiming About […]
The list of active shooting cases that were averted by people legally carrying guns that were missed in the FBI Active Shooting reports. Our original write-up on this problem is available here. Specifically, just those cases where just mass public shootings were stopped is available here. Location Date Detail Portland, Oregon January 11, 2014 A […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Bill Martinez Show to discuss his new op-ed at The Federalist revealing that small changes in the questions dramatically change the polling results for NPR/PBS surveys on specific gun control proposals such as red-flag laws and so-called universal background checks. They also discussed Hunter Biden’s gun charges. (Thursday, July 27, 2023, from 9:32 to 9:58 […]
Two armed robbers walked up to a Chicago ride share driver a 1:02 AM and, according to police, “announced a robbery“, but it didn’t turn out the way the robbers had hoped.. . A Chicago rideshare driver shot two alleged robbers who stole his cellphone and fired at him while he was working overnight Friday, according to […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on Securing America with Frank Gaffney to discuss characterizations of mass murderers in the United States and problems with media coverage of these tragedies. See also Dr. Lott’s two new pieces at Townhall (“Why Won’t the Media Admit When Mass Murderers Are Environmentalists?” and “Can Democrats Even Believe What They Are Claiming […]
This segment is from Willax TV on Sunday, August 6th. The guest was Fernando Rospigliosi (the Former Minister of Interior). Minister Rospigliosi’s was referring to Dr. Lott’s talk in Lima, Peru that is available here. Here is an English translation of the TV show. Fernando Rospigliosi: Some months ago John Lott, who is a North […]
The Crime Prevention Research Center has kept track of some of the claims in entertainment TV police shows that policing in the US is systemically racist. This episode of FBI Most Wanted has a black man falsely accused of murdering a young white man for purely political reasons — that it would appeal to white […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on Stu Does America on Blaze TV to discuss the Biden administration’s newest ridiculous attack on the Second Amendment. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Townhall titled “Biden Will Withhold Federal Funding From Schools With Hunting, Archery Programs.” (Stu Does America, Thursday, August 3, 2023)
The CPRC’s Kerry Slone and John Lott talked to two major newspapers in Ecuador. Here is a story that came out on August 9th from their interview with Espresso in Guayaquil, population 2.7 million. Here is the English translation of their article. . US experts recommend arming the population to defend themselves against crime . […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Michigan Talk Network with Steve Gruber to discuss Dr. Carl Moody, the Crime Prevention Research Center’s research director, publishing a new paper on stopping mass public shootings. A copy of the paper is available here. (Thursday, July 27, 2023)
Kerry Slone talked to Gary Nolan on KSSZ-FM across central Missouri about how it is best for female domestic violence victims to defend themselves. She discussed her op-ed piece at Townhall titled: Why Aren’t Female Victims of Domestic Violence Told the Best Way to Protect Themselves? (Saturday, July 29, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Pat Gray on The Blaze Network about how the Biden Administration is trying to make it difficult for Americans to own guns, including new ATF regulations, raids on gun stores, and a national gun registry. Thursday, July 20, 2023
Dr. John Lott talked to fill-in host Jason Lewis on the giant 50,000-watt WBT about gun legislation and the current gun control situation. Kerry Slone, the executive director of education at the Crime Prevention Research Center, also joins the program to discuss her new op-ed at Townhall on the importance of concealed handgun permits and firearms for […]
“Ghost guns” are homemade guns. It is already illegal to sell these guns because they don’t have serial numbers. Guns are pretty simple items to build. You can build a shotgun with a few pipes and a nail. Requiring background checks on all parts of guns has been one of the goals of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown. […]
Kerry Slone, the CPRC’s Director of Education, talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about how it is best for female domestic violence victims to defend themselves. She discussed her op-ed piece at Townhall titled: Why Aren’t Female Victims of Domestic Violence Told the Best Way to Protect Themselves? (Friday, July 28, […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about the biased media coverage of gun issues, and that even Entertainment TV Shows are pushing lies about guns. (Wednesday, July 19, 2023)
Dr. John Lott discussed the problems with the Red Flag laws and other gun control policies that are being discussed in Michigan at the 2023 Livingston County Lincoln Day Dinner. (Thursday, July 27, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Alan Stock on KXNT-AM’s Vegas @ 8 about his new piece at Real Clear Politics on the false claim that firearms are the leading cause of death for children or teens. (Monday, July 17, 2023, from 10:33 to 10:43 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott’s offer to bet academics on how Brazil’s homicide rate will change with their new gun control laws has gotten some attention in Brazil. Less access to guns, less crime? American expert contests and provokes with betJohn Lott, an American gun expert, shows, with examples from the Bolsonaro government, that stricter gun laws […]
One popular theme among Democrats is the threat those carrying guns on election day pose to others. Namely that carrying guns intimidates voters. In Michigan in 2023, Democrats considered legislation banning concealed handguns within 100 feet of any ballot box, making it impossible to carry them in most cities. This episode of CBS’s FBI Most […]
The Crime Prevention Research Center has frequently written about how much more women benefit from owning a gun than men. Yet, seeing an entertainment television show acknowledge that essential point is shocking. In this case, Hulu’s Class of ’09 has one of the show’s stars Kate Mara (who plays FBI Agent Poet) saying that her […]
Dr. John Lott talked to George Noory on his national radio show for two hours about the gun situation in the United States. From the write-up at Coast to Coast AM. In the first half, John R. Lott, activist, and founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, discussed his latest work researching the data surrounding gun […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Politics & Issues with Larry Marino to discuss his new op-ed at The Federalist revealing that in reality, so much of the supposed support for gun control is simply a mirage. Small changes in the questions also dramatically change the polling results for the NPR/PBS surveys on specific gun control […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on Gun Freedom Radio with Cheryl and Dan Todd on June 23, 2023. Our guest today is Dr. John Lott. Dr. Lott is the President of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), which is a research and education organization dedicated to providing an objective and accurate scientific evaluation of both the […]
The CPRC’s Nikki Goeser talked to the Sisters in Arms about the dangers of gun-free zones. Nikki Goeser is the Executive Director of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me.” Nikki was previously the Executive Director of the […]
Dr. John Lott talked to the guest host Jim Nelles on One America News Network’s Tipping Point about U.S. ‘ghost gun’ regulations. After a federal judge in Texas blocks the ATF’s new rule on ghost guns, the Biden administration is now asking the Supreme Court to overrule the judge and reinstate the policy. We don’t […]
Dr. John Lott has a new piece up at Townhall. . The Biden administration apparently thinks that young archers are a real threat to safety. And, of course, getting rid of hunter safety classes for high school students must be an obvious way to improve safety. The Biden administration’s interpretation of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities […]
We are very pleased to announce that Kerry Stone is our new Executive Director for Education. Her job is for outreach to to social media and media generally. She will also be giving public speeches and writing op-eds on the importance of self-defense, particular for women. Kerry, a domestic violence survivor, became an advocate for […]
Dr. John Lott talked to the guest host Bob Frantz on America First with Sebastian Gorka about his new piece at Real Clear Politics on the false claim that guns are the leading cause of death of children. See also Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at The Federalist titled “How Gun-Hating Media Use Slanted Surveys To Manipulate Public Opinion.” […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Alan Stock on Las Vegas’ giant KXNT-AM about the claim by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden that guns are the number one cause of children’s deaths in America. They talked about Lott’s recent piece at Real Clear Politics titled: “Guns Are Not the Leading Cause of Children’s Deaths.” July 17, […]
Whether it isn’t banning lead bullets and fishing weights and putting thousands of gun dealers out of business, the Biden administration is pushing hard to eliminate hunting. This is the Biden administration’s interpretation of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). Forbidding federal funding for schools that have hunting or archery classes will end schools […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Bill Martinez Show to discuss the misinformation on US shootings. Ironic that an administration doing everything possible to cancel misinformation with the help of the MSM, social media, the FBI, and the Justice Department can’t seem to recognize their own contribution to misinformation. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear […]
Dr. John Lott and Kerry Slone, our new Director for Education, will give talks in Brazil and Ecuador over the next two weeks.
Dr. John Lott appeared on the Armed American Radio show about our latest research on how asking gun control questions differently dramatically changes the results. (Sunday, July 16, 2023, from 8:35 to 9:00 PM ET)
Crime Prevention and Research Center chief John Lott detailed in a post on his website the case of Virginia woman Deja Taylor, whose 6-year-old son shot and injured his teacher in January. “Biden’s plea deal ‘lets him dodge possible charges on money laundering, bribery, trafficking’ and being an unregistered foreign agent,” Lott wrote. “Deja Taylor […]
Here is another defensive gun use by a civilian legally carrying a gun in public. Police said they responded to a neighborhood in the Village of River Grove at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, where they discovered a U.S. Postal Service employee was approached by an armed suspect who demanded his keys. The mail carrier complied, […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about his new piece at Real Clear Politics discussing misinformation by the Biden administration on the leading cause of death in children. (Monday, July 17, 2023)
Kerry Slone will soon start as the new director of education for the Crime Prevention Research Center. On Monday, July 17th, Lance Logan brutally murdered 64-year-old Carolyn Williams in her Hartford, Connecticut, home while she was on the telephone with a 9-1-1 operator. He also beat her 30-year-old son. “He hit me again . . […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on the Armed American Radio show about his new piece at Townhall, titled “Why Won’t the Media Admit When Mass Murderers Are Environmentalists?” They also discussed our latest research on voter discrepancies found in the general election. (Sunday, July 9, 2023, from 8:35 to 9:00 PM ET)
In the six months after the Supreme Court’s Bruen Decision, the New York City Police Department granted only 503 permits for an annual rate of just about 1,000. By contrast, in 2021, they granted 2,591. They were granted permits at just 38.5% of the rate in 2021. Even worse, there were a lot more applications […]
While the BATF claims that during the last half of 2021 they drove 5 FFLs out of business and an additional 88 in 2022, a lawsuit by Gun Owners of America found that the number of FFLs where a compliance inspection resulted in them going out of business increased from 96 in 2020 to 789 […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on WDRC’s Morning with Gary Byron in Connecticut to discuss his new piece at Townhall titled “Can Democrats Even Believe What They Are Claiming About Guns?“ (Monday, January 30, 2023, from 9:09 to 9:30 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott, President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, appeared on the Talk Back program for an hour to discuss many crime and gun control topics: pistol braces, media coverage on mass public shootings, SCOTUS accepting case dealing with a gun ban for those subject to the civil restraining order, and more. (Friday, July 7, 2023, from […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about Hunter Biden’s case, likely mass public shootings stopped by concealed handgun permit holders, and Florida permitless carry. (Friday, July 7, 2023, from 8:00 to 9:00 PM ET)
Shannon Watts and the Bloomberg groups are taking credit for Jason Aldean being cancelled on Country Music Television for his song “Try that in a Small Town.” They were very upset about the reference to guns in the song: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me.” Watts long ago blocked the Crime Prevention Research […]
Dr. John Lott talked to fill-in host Mike Allen Sr. on 700 WLW’s The Bill Cunningham Show about California Governor Gavin Newsom’s gun amendment proposal that would raise the federal minimum age to buy a firearm to 21 from 18, mandate universal background checks, impose a waiting period for gun purchases and ban assault weapons. Dr. Lott […]
Dr. Carl Moody, the Crime Prevention Research Center’s research director, has published a new paper on stopping mass public shootings. A copy of the paper is available here. . Abstract . The fact that an individual is willing to commit the most serious crime that carries with it the most serious punishment means that that […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Aaron Flint on the Montana Talks Network about his new piece at Townhall titled “Can Democrats Even Believe What They Are Claiming About Guns?” They also discussed the unexpected raid of a local Montana gun store by an estimated 20-Armed IRS Agents in June, collecting 4,473 forms containing gun purchase records. (Monday, July 10, […]
For those who have been following the case of the monster who murdered Nikki Goeser’s husband and then continued to stalk her from prison, he was sentenced in federal court for stalking her today. Here is a brief summary of the decision. The judge accepted the plea agreement with one positive addition. One year in […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about the Baltimore block party shooting, firearm background checks, and the culture shift. (Sunday, July 2, 2023, from 9:35 to 10:00 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at The Federalist. . Gun control advocates often point to polls showing overwhelming support for gun control. For instance, in May, a headline for an NPR/PBS Newshour survey proclaimed: “Most Americans say curbing gun violence is more important than gun rights.” . But is that really the choice […]
Jesse Lee Calhoun, 38, was among about 1,000 inmates granted clemency by Democratic former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown as fears over the spread of the pandemic swept through the nation, the Willamette Week reported. However, by 2022, it was clear that COVID was not a real risk for young, healthy individuals. Calhoun has: “a long record of […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on the Rich Zeoli Show on Philadelphia’s WPHT to discuss the Biden Administration using bank records to find out who recently bought a gun and the myth that guns are the number one killer of children. July 12, 2023
Try driving across Montgomery County, Maryland, with the new changes that they have in their concealed carry law. The areas in red are all of the “exclusionary zones” where lawful concealed carry is forbidden. The areas in red just happen to be where the people live. Maryland Shall Issue has the map.
The full KPIX CBS San Francisco interview with Alameda County, California, District Attorney Pamela Price is available here, but this part really stood out to us: “The DA’s role has really no impact on crime.” Possibly this isn’t surprising if you don’t believe in deterrence. Price is a Soros-backed District Attorney who is facing a […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Tron Simpson on South Florida’s WFSX-FM 92.5 about his new piece at Townhall titled “Can Democrats Even Believe What They Are Claiming About Guns?“ (Friday, July 7, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to the guest host Terrance Bates on America’s Voice Live about his new piece at The Federalist titled “Biden’s Latest Anti-Gun Claims Aren’t Just False — They Don’t Even Make Sense.” (Friday, June 23, 2023, from 3:10 to 3:20 PM ET)
A woman was found to have shot the burglars who broke into her house in self-defense. With four burglars in her apartment when she came home, it looks like the woman was already carrying a concealed handgun . The woman arrived at her apartment along the 4900 block of Germantown Avenue around 1:30 a.m. Sunday […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on TNT Radio’s State of the Nation to discuss our latest research on firearm deaths involving suicides and California Governor Newsom’s constitutional amendment to restrict gun rights. See also Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at the Washington Times titled “Advocates of ‘reasonable’ gun control laws don’t want any firearms at all.” (Thursday, June […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on New Hampshire’s WSMN to discuss his pieces at Townhall on Gavin Newsom’s Proposed Constitutional Amendment guns and other incredible claims by Democrats. (Friday, June 30, 2023)
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, ABC’s The Rookie Show is no different (Season 5, Episode 21, April 25, 2023). This episode shows a machine gun being fired when part of a gang making ghost guns […]
Beaumont, Texas, May 1, 2023 (12NewsNow) On Monday, May 1, 2023, Beaumont Police officers were sent to the Regent Apartments in reference to a victim of a shooting… Beaumont Police received multiple calls about the incident… The caller said four people wearing masks were in a vehicle, and they heard shots fired in the area… […]
Here is a dramatic example of an 18-year-old mother who protected herself and her young 3-month old from her stalker. For gun control advocates who want to ban anyone under 21 from having guns, this might be something to remember. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, January 31, 2023
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Real Clear Politics. Real Clear Politics also provided an alternative view point from Bloomberg’s Everytown. . A favorite talking point from the Biden White House is that guns are the leading cause of death of children. The problem is that it is false. . “The number one […]
The 5th Amendment states: “nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” So how can Red Flag laws then take away a person’s guns (“property”) without Due Process? Under the plain reading of the text, the provision doesn’t allow people to be temporarily deprived of property without due process. But […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Bill Martinez Show to discuss his most recent report with James Varney for Real Clear Investigations titled, “Murder, They Spun: Selective Stats Leave Suspicious Fingerprints All Over the Crime Debate.” They also discussed the recent Hunter Biden’s conviction and penalty on gun possession, which is in direct conflict with […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about the Fifth Circuit’s third injunction issued strongly against ATF’s Pistol Brace Ban. They also discussed Gabby Giffords’ clear call for banning all guns and Hunter Biden’s Second Amendment Defense Plan. (Sunday, June 4, 2023, from 9:35 to 10:00 PM ET)
According to a new Rasmussen Reports poll from June 26th to 27th, a majority of Democrats (55%-to-43%), Republicans (80%-to-18%), and Independents (64%-to-33%) think that the outcome of the 2024 presidential election will be affected by cheating. Young people think cheating is slightly more likely than older people (18 to 39-year-olds by 72%-to-26%, 65+ by 68%-to-30%). […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Mike Opelka on Fort Myers, Florida 92.5 FM Fox News about the threat to gun ownership by Democrats. (Friday, June 16, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Townhall. . On Friday, a federal judge sentenced the El Paso Walmart mass murderer, who killed 23 people and wounded another 22, to 90 consecutive life sentences. He still faces additional charges from Texas, where he could receive the death penalty. . With the sentencing announcement, over […]
Are there drawbacks to locking up your guns? In this case, even the bad guys lock up their guns. NBC’s Law & Order Organized Crime has a corrupt prison guard who is being arrested (Season 3, Episode 21, May 11, 2023). The guard attempts to reach his gun to escape the police, but he cannot […]
The El Paso Walmart murderer is a racist who identifies with the Christchurch shooter and says they have the same views. The New Zealand killer was a socialist/environmentalist who supported gun control. He is also the same as the Buffalo mass murderer and others, but the media refuses to mention that they are environmentalists. Headline from […]
Dr. John Lott talked on Chicago’s most popular morning talk program, WIND-AM’s Morning Answer, about his new piece with James Varney at Real Clear Investigation titled, “Murder, They Spun: Selective Stats Leave Suspicious Fingerprints All Over the Crime Debate.” (Thursday, June 22, 2023, 8:10 to 8:24 AM)
From One America News: “The President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, Dr. John Lott, tells One America News that despite a ruling from a federal judge in Texas a new order from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regulating pistol stabilizing braces has made felons out of millions of otherwise legal gun owners. […]
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, NBC’s Chicago PD is no different (Season 10, Episode 21, May 17, 2023). This episode shows a machine gun being fired by a drug gang member at the police. One […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about a raid by IRS agents on a gun shop in Montana, seizing records that contain personally identifying information of firearm purchasers from the store. They also discussed President Biden’s speech at a gun safety summit in Connecticut; and a loophole that allows the federal government […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Meyer on Medford, Oregon’s KMED-AM about the takeaways from Hunter Biden’s plea deal in federal tax and gun cases. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s piece with James Varney at Real Clear Investigation on murder rates in Biden and Trump counties. (Thursday, June 22, 2023, from 10:05 to 10:22 AM […]
While there were about 3,839 suicides per year in Canada in 2020, there were 13,500 assisted suicides in Canada in 2022. With a population of about 38.25 million people, that implies an assisted suicide rate of 35.294 per 100,000 people. The total suicide rate is about 45. The assisted suicide rate in Canada in 2022 is about 4.45 […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on 700 WLW’s The Bill Cunningham Show to discuss his new piece with James Varney at Real Clear Investigation on murder rates in Biden and Trump counties. They also discussed Hunter Biden’s “sweet-heart” plea deal for his gun and tax crimes. (Thursday, June 22, 2023, from 1:05 to 1:22 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Lee Elci on 94.9 News Now and Stimulating Talk about Trump’s indictment and Dr. Lott’s own experience working in the US Department of Justice as Senior Advisor for Research and Statistics. They also discussed the U.S. economy, the nationwide escalation of crime and the federal background check. (Thursday, June 15, 2023)
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, NBC’s Magnum P.I. show is no different (Season 5, Episode 10, April 23, 2023). This episode shows an organized crime group trying to kill Thomas Magnum. Juliet Higgins (played by […]
Apple’s AirTag has been credited with solving many different types of theft. Just a week ago, a Texas restaurant recovered its beloved 6-foot-tall, 150-pound fiberglass bull statue thanks to an AirTag. At the beginning of May, a hidden AirTag thwarted a $1.1 million armored truck robbery. In March, a search warrant revealed how the Drug Enforcement Agency used an AirTag […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Jennifer Horn and Grant Stinchfield on AM 870’s The Morning Answer about California’s Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed amendment to the US Constitution to impose gun control regulations. Lott has a piece on this available at Townhall. More information is available here. (Tuesday, June 13, 2023, from 7:45 to 7:53 AM PT)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at the Washington Times. . If you believe Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), fellow Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) has “blood on your hands” for fighting to reduce the number of hours of training necessary to become a pilot. A headline at The Intercept claims her motive is campaign cash: […]
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll shows that the vast majority of Americans would rather live in states with Republican policies than Democrat ones, though it isn’t clear which policies are most driving their preference. Only liberals (by a 63-to-37 percent margin) and young people (54-to-46 percent) want to live in states with these Democrat policies. Amazingly, […]
Dr. John Lott talked to the guest host Chris Stigall on America First with Sebastian Gorka about California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed constitutional amendment on gun control that would raise the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, ban assault weapons, and mandate universal background checks and waiting periods for purchasing […]
Chicago, Illinois, April 1, 2023 (CBS News Chicago) A suspected robber is dead after a store manager shot him in a Chicago auto parts store Saturday afternoon. According to the Chicago Police Department, an armed 30- to 40-year-old man entered the O’Reilly Auto Parts store in the 9100 block of South Stony Island Avenue around […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Andy Caldwell Show to discuss California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed gun-related constitutional amendment that would raise the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, ban assault weapons, and mandate universal background checks and waiting periods for purchasing firearms. More information is available here. (Tuesday, June […]
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s True Lies show is no different (Season 1, Episodes 13 and 14, May 17, 2023). These episodes show machine guns by a domestic spy organization and another intelligence agency […]
On Friday, June 23rd, 2023, an employee at Turnberry Towers near Karen and Paradise shot a gunman who walked in and fired shots at the front desk. Fortunately, the employee had a concealed handgun permit and was able to quickly stop the attack before anyone else was hurt. More similar cases where people are legally […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on Bill Cunningham’s national Sunday radio show to discuss his new piece with James Varney at Real Clear Investigation on murder rates in Biden and Trump counties. They also discussed Hunter Biden’s “sweet-heart” plea deal for his gun and tax crimes. (Sunday, June 25, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Townhall. . You have to wonder if Democrats know anything about the gun control laws they vote on. That is on something as simple as the recent votes on pistol-stabilizing braces. . Under new rules from the Biden administration, gun owners possessing pistol-stabilizing braces must now remove the brace, […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about Hunter Biden’s reported plans to use the Second Amendment as a defense should he be charged with a gun crime, challenging the constitutionality of the existing background check system. (Monday, June 5, 2023, from 10:06 to 10:29 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Lars Larson on his National and Northwest regional radio shows about Dr. Lott and James Varney’s new piece at Real Clear Investigation, titled “Murder, They Spun: Selective Stats Leave Suspicious Fingerprints All Over the Crime Debate.” (Tuesday, June 20, 2023, from 5:35 to 5:45 PM ET) The Lars Larson national […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Vince Coglianese on WMAL about Hunter Biden’s “sweet-heart” plea deal for his gun and tax crimes. (Tuesday, June 20, 2023)
We have previously written about Joe Biden’s nonsensical claims about pistol-stabilizing braces. Now as the Senate voted on Friday, June 23, 2023, to overturn the Biden administration rules on pistol-stabilizing braces, Senators Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin make new claims, such as pistol braces turning semi-automatic handguns into machine guns.
Dr. John Lott joined Rich Zeoli on Philadelphia’s WPHT to discuss his most recent report with James Varney for Real Clear Investigations titled, “Murder, They Spun: Selective Stats Leave Suspicious Fingerprints All Over the Crime Debate.” They also discussed assault weapons ban and school shooting. (Thursday, June 22, 2023, from 5:40 to 5:57 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to John Hayward, a guest host for Alan Nathan on his national radio show, about California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed constitutional amendment restricting guns. They also discussed Brazil’s new firearm ban. Lott has a piece on Newsom’s proposed amendment available at Townhall. The Brazil bet is discussed at The Federalist. More information is available […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about common sense gun safety legislation. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s new op-ed at the Washington Times titled “Advocates of ‘reasonable’ gun control laws don’t want any firearms at all.” (Tuesday, June 13, 2023) Vicki’s show covers most of Wisconsin and part […]
“Ghost guns” are homemade guns. It is already illegal to sell these guns because they don’t have serial numbers. Guns are pretty simple items to build. You can build a shotgun with a few pipes and a nail. Requiring background checks on all parts of guns has been one of the goals of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown. […]
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, Hulu’s Class of ’09 show is no different (Season 1, Episode 3, May 17, 2023). This episode shows a machine guns attack on an FBI agent’s wife. The attacker first murders […]
U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb, a George W. Bush nominated judge, originally suspended most of New Jersey’s new restrictive concealed handgun law. But a three-judge federal appeals panel for the Third Circuit in a 2-to-1 split paused that preliminary injunction. The two judges appointed by Democrats, Cindy Kyounga Chung nominated by Biden and Cheryl Ann […]
Leftist prosecutors in three large Virginia counties swept their Democratic primaries Tuesday night in Albemarle, Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties. Dehghani-Tafti took 57 percent of the Democratic primary in Arlington County, according to unofficial results, versus 43 percent for Katcher. Biberaj won 56 percent against her challenger, Elizabeth Lancaster, a former public defender. And Fairfax’s Descano — the […]
Then again also, too, that’s no easy gantlet. It would require approval by three-quarters of the states. Mr. Newsom, whatever else one can say about him, is not dumb. He knows that the chances of getting three quarters of the states, or even two thirds of them, or even half, would be a tall order. […]
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at The Federalist. . Biden’s gun control speech on Friday at the National Safer Communities Summit in Connecticut got attention because the President nonsensically concluded with “God save the Queen.” However, this was not his only incoherent claim. . In his speech, Biden stated: “Put a pistol on a brace, […]
So how does the Biden administration treat criminals equally? Here are two cases involving drug use and possession of a handgun that were handled this month by the US DOJ. There are some differences here, but given that Hunter Biden is involved in other criminal activities that are still being investigated, these charges would be […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss Hunter Biden arming himself with Second Amendment defense against possible charges for possessing a firearm as a drug user – a position that would square off against the Biden administration. (Monday, June 5, 2023, from 5:35 to 5:44 PM ET)
It made it harder for people to buy stabilized brief — braces. Put a pistol on a brace, and it ma- — turns into a gun. Makes them where you can have a higher-caliber weapon — a higher-caliber bullet coming out of that gun. It’s essentially turning it into a short-barreled rifle, which has been […]
Dr. John Lott was on Western Montana’s KGVO from 8:30 to 10 AM on June 1, 2023. He covered many gun control and crime topics: pistol braces, Australia’s gun control regulations, “reasonable gun control laws,” school shootings, and more. Western Montana’s KGVO, June 1, 2023, 8:30 to 10 AM
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s S.W.A.T. show is no different (Season 6, Episode 22, May 19, 2023). This episode shows a machine guns attack on S.W.A.T. officers in Los Angeles by a Mexican drug gang. […]
“The idea (that) we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick, it’s just sick. It has no social redeeming value, zero, none. Not a single, solitary rationale for it,” President Biden, November 24, 2022, Nantucket, Massachusetts. “They said a .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out […]
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 2, 2023 (6 ABC) The confrontation happened as Joel was walking home from a Chinese takeout around 11:15 p.m. Thursday. He was approached by two men on the 2400 block of N. 10th Street. The pair tried to rob him, but Joel fought back. “They raised a gun to begin shooting. I […]
This is being sold as a gun “safety” summit, but they won’t have us or others who represent a different view on how to make people “safer.” The message from the Democrats and the gun control advocates is that they are the only ones who support “safety.” Work is underway for a national gun safety […]
A Tennessee DA publicly praises a brave woman who saved her children and herself. A woman was commended for her bravery after shooting and killing a man that posed an imminent threat to her and her kids in McMinnville on Monday, according to District Attorney General Chris Stanford. Stanford said just before noon the Warren […]
Dr. John Lott joined Frank Mottek on KABC’s radio show to discuss California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for a U.S. constitutional amendment on gun control that would raise the age to own guns, ban assault weapons and mandate background checks and waiting periods for purchasing firearms. They also discussed Concealed Carry in California. (Thursday, June […]
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s Blue Bloods show is no different (Season 13, Episode 19, May 5, 2023). This episode shows a drug gang trying to kill Danny Reagan (played by Donnie Wahlberg). In […]
We have previously examined this rate from 2011 to 2015, but the above chart updates that data from 2016 to 2020. The FBI only has firearm murder data up through 2020. The average over the last five years is 67%, down slightly from the five-year average from 2011 to 2015, which was 70 percent. The […]
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed in Townhall on Gavin Newsom’s new proposed constitutional amendment. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is conceding that the U.S. Constitution needs to be amended before he can pass his gun control wish list. But he doesn’t have the votes. Democrats control only the governorship and state legislatures in 17 […]
Dr. John Lott Jr. appeared on Stinchfield Tonight on Real America’s Voice to discuss his new op-ed at the Washington Times titled “Advocates of ‘reasonable’ gun control laws don’t want any firearms at all.” (Wednesday, June 7, 2023)
From Fox News: “Gun expert John Lott Jr. calls out California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed constitutional amendment to restrict gun rights.” More information available here. Fox & Friends First June 9, 2023, 5:48 to 5:52 AM ET
Television show bias against guns is never-ending. It is exceedingly rare to see an entertainment television show with a civilian successfully using a gun defensively. Instead, something always seems to go wrong when guns are used defensively (from being fatally shot by the criminal without stopping the crime to getting in the way of police to continually having the gun stolen and used in a crime […]
After this week’s shooting at a high school graduation ceremony in Richmond, Virginia, Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears spoke out on gang violence and the Richmond high school graduation mass shooting. Unfortunately, the media refuses to distinguish mass shootings involving gang fights from mass public shootings where someone is simply motivated to harm others. Winsome Earle-Sears […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about Former President Barack Obama’s recent interview, claiming that the U.S. should have strict gun laws like Australia. They also discussed Red Flag laws. The Number of Red Flag cases filed in New York increased by 1,057% over the last year. (Tuesday, May 16, […]
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom proposes an amendment to the US Constitution that would impose gun control regulations: While Governor Gavin Newsom acknowledges that he has to change the Constitution to pass the gun control laws he and other Democrats want, they don’t have the votes. Democrats control only 17 state governments, far short of the […]
Fifty-seven percent of Protestant churches have a plan for an active shooter attack, and 95% of them have armed church members (54% of all protestant churches). Lifeway Research surveyed 1,000 Protestant churches. There were 77,860 Protestant churches in the U.S. in 2010. Assuming that there are the same number of Protestant churches now, that implies […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on NTD News to discuss the newly signed red flag gun laws in Michigan and the problems with the laws. (Tuesday, May 23, 2023, from 12:01 to 12:07 PM ET)
It seems a little challenging to figure out exactly what Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s views are on guns. On the one side, in a recent June 5th, 2023 interview with Jordan Peterson shown above, Kennedy talks about Republicans taking money from “dirty”/”disreputable” industries such as oil, tobacco, and the NRA, and that this means that […]
Laura Ingraham interviewed Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles (R) about the Nashville Covenant school shooting. April 1, 2023
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at the Washington Times: . Gun control advocates keep claiming that they just want “reasonable” gun control, but self-defense advocates are understandably skeptical. New York and New Jersey cover their states with gun-free zones, to the point of making concealed carry impractical. Hawaii’s legislature is now proposing to charge permit […]
Here is an example of a politician who wanted to win election just too much.
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In an executive order, the Republican governor [Ron DeSantis] said Mr. DeFillipo “is prohibited from performing any official act, duty, or function of public office; from receiving any pay or allowance,” effective immediately.
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Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Mr. DeFillipo, a Democrat, cast ballots in August, October and November 2022 in elections for a North Miami Beach district in which he was not legally qualified to vote.
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He was charged last week with three counts of “Election-Unqualified Voter,” each a third-degree felony, according to the governor’s office. . . .
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Dave Boyer, “DeSantis suspends mayor in Florida from office after arrest on illegal-vote charges,” The Washington Times – Monday, June 5, 2023
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about how often civilians use their guns defensively to stop crimes and the release of transgender school shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto has been put on hold. They also discussed John’s bet to pro-gun control advocates about Brazil’s new firearm ban, the executive order signed by Brazil’s newly inaugurated president, banning sales of guns and ammunition after four years of increased gun ownership that grew six-fold.
(Friday, May 26, 2023, from 11:32 to 11:58 AM ET)
John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, a national gun rights advocacy group, told ABC News that it’s “incredibly unusual” that the Covenant School shooter’s writings haven’t already been released. “To me, the important thing is to learn the motivation why the person picked the particular place they did to attack,” Lott said. […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Alan Stock on KXNT-AM’s Vegas @ 8 about his latest op-ed with Nevada State Senators Ira Hansen (Reno and six of the state’s rural counties) and Jeff Stone (southern Las Vegas) on a bill dealing with “ghost guns,” AB354.
(Monday, May 15, 2023)
Dr. John Lott appeared on One America News Network’s Tipping Point to discuss the Supreme Court’s decline to block Illinois’ so-called “Assault Weapons” Ban. The video is a cut of the interview, and here is the audio of the full version.
(The Tipping Point, One America News, Wednesday, May 17, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Chris Salcedo on Houston’s KSEV 700 AM about his latest op-ed at The Federalist, titled “If Brazil’s Firearm Ban Is So Great, Why Won’t Gun-Control Activists Bet On It?” They also discussed Democrats’ push for tighter gun regulations on Uvalde Shooting Anniversary, and what is a better way to reduce crime.
(Friday, May 26, 2023, from 8:05 to 8:25 AM CDT)
Dr. John Lott Jr. appeared on Stinchfield Tonight on Real America’s Voice to discuss gun control in Brazil and John’s bet to pro-gun control advocates about Brazil’s new firearm ban. (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)
Hartford, Connecticut, February 2, 2023 (NBC Connecticut)
One suspect in an attempted armed robbery in East Hartford is dead after a store owner who was shot during the ordeal shot back, according to police.
Police said two people wearing black ski masks went into Humble & Paid Co. at 1285 Main St. just after 10:30 p.m. Thursday, intending to rob the business.
The store owner struggled with one of the suspects, who pulled out a firearm and the suspect shot the owner in the back, police said.
The owner returned fire with two of his legally registered firearms, striking one of the suspects several times, according to police…
The other suspect remains at large and ran out of the building during the initial struggle, police said.
NBC Connecticut Staff, “Store Owner Shoots, Kills Suspect During Attempted Armed Robbery in East Hartford: Police,” NBC Connecticut, February 3, 2023.
Memphis, Tennessee, February 3, 2023 (Action News 5)
At midnight Friday, officers responded to a shots-fired call at the Exxon gas station at 2468 Elvis Presley Boulevard.
When officers arrived on the scene, the victim told police that he was there to get some gas. He said while he was sitting inside his car, a red 2019 Kia Forte drove up in front of his vehicle, with five men inside.
The victim told police that the suspects jumped out of the Kia and started firing at him, striking him on the side of the knee.
He said he then returned fire with his own handgun, and the suspects fled.
Police were able to detain all five. Four of the suspects are teenagers…
Lydian Kennin, “MPD: Teens receive summons for violating curfew after shooting man, occupying stolen car,” Action News 5, February 3, 2023.
Yakima, Washington, February 5, 2023 (New York Post)
The 28-year-old father opened fire at the man who was “acting erratically” near him and his young child at Randall Park dog park in Yakima, police said.
The man who was killed, identified by police as 22-year-old Daniel Ortega of Yakima, “attempted to endanger the life of the small child with his words and actions,” police said.
Police said the 28-year-old father asked Ortega to leave his family alone as he tried to leave the park. His attempts to verbally de-escalate the situation failed and the man shot Ortega with a legally owned firearm, killing him, police said.
After police interviewed multiple witnesses, the 28-year-old man, who is also from Yakima, was discharged after cooperating with detectives, cops said…
Patrick Reilly, “Washington state father fatally shoots man ‘acting erratically’ at dog park: cops,” New York Post, February 10, 2023.
El Paso, Texas, February 6, 2023 (KFOX 14)
The shooting took place at the DK convenience store at 5201 Fairbanks Drive around 12:28 p.m…
Investigators learned the suspect walked into the convenience store and demanded money and showed a weapon in his waistband, Gomez said.
The 28-year-old clerk, a conceal and carry holder, shot the man at least once, Gomez added…
Gomez said no charges are pending at the moment and the only person in custody is the suspect…
KFOX 14 Staff, “Northeast El Paso convenience store clerk shoots attempted armed robber, police say,” KFOX 14, February 6, 2023.
Baltimore, Maryland, February 7, 2023 (WMAR, Daily Voice)
Baltimore Police detectives determined a homicide last month was justified.
Joseph Garrison, 42, was fatally shot on February 7 in the 3900 block of Ridgecroft Road.
Further investigation into Garrison’s death revealed he tried robbing a man before being killed.
The 24-year-old victim Garrison was attempting to rob happened to be legally carrying a gun, and used it in self defense…
After being detained for questioning, investigators released him without charges…
WMAR Staff, “BPD: Robber killed by would-be victim legally carrying firearm,” WMAR, March 22, 2023.
Annie DeVoe, “Unknown Man Found Laying In Baltimore Street Dies From Injuries,” Daily Voice, February 8, 2023.
Detroit, Michigan, February 8, 2023 (FOX News)
A man who tried to rob another man at gunpoint outside a Michigan liquor store was shot in the chest by a concealed carry permit holder and eventually arrested.
The victim told police that a man with a ski mask and a Detroit Lions jacket had followed him and his friend into a liquor store and then back outside before pulling a gun on them.
The suspect is said to have pulled out a gun and threatened to kill the concealed carry holder‘s friend unless the concealed carry holder turned over his wallet.
The concealed carry holder then pulled out a gun as he was being patted down by the suspect and shot him in the chest…
Andrew Mark Miller, “Detroit armed robber shot in chest by concealed carry permit holder after threatening to kill friend: police,” FOX News, March 17, 2023.
Baltimore, Maryland, February 9, 2023 (WMAR 2 News)
Baltimore Police say the shooting death of a man last month was justified.
Back on February 9 officers were called to the 2000 block of Harford Road for reports of a shooting.
On scene they discovered a 39-year-old man and 27-year-old woman suffering from gunshot wounds.
Police also found 48-year-old Earl Watkins, who’d been fatally wounded…
But investigators later determined that it was Watkins who actually shot the other two victims, at which time someone else returned fire killing him…
Ryan Dickstein, “Previously listed as a homicide victim, Baltimore Police say a man shot two people before he was killed,” WMAR 2 News, March 2, 2023.
Birmingham, Alabama, February 10, 2023 (AL.com)
Birmingham police about 1:30 a.m. Friday responded to the Kamtek facility where they both worked.
The information was that an ex-boyfriend had kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and they were traveling in a vehicle, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald…
The sister was quickly able to locate the victim and the suspect in the 1800 block of Ninth Street N.W. in the Winewood neighborhood.
The family member confronted the suspect in an attempt to rescue the victim, Fitzgerald said. A physical altercation ensued, and shots were exchanged between the suspect and the victim’s sister.
Both women were wounded but able to escape. They drove to Center Point Fire and Rescue Station #1 for help and were transported by Center Point medics to UAB Hospital in Birmingham with non-life-threatening injuries.
Jackson fled in a vehicle…
In Gardendale, first responders found Jackson unresponsive inside a vehicle from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound…
Carol Robinson, “Birmingham man dead after kidnapping, double shooting and suicide identified,” AL.com, February 13, 2023.
Phoenix, Arizona, February 11, 2023 (ABC15.com)
A man is dead after a shooting inside a restaurant near 27th Avenue and Camelback Road Saturday night.
Officials say 26-year-old Oscar Luna entered the restaurant with a gun and shot multiple times inside the building.
After the initial shooting, police say a man inside the restaurant then shot Luna…
Officials say the man claimed self-defense and statements from witnesses at the scene were consistent with the man’s claims.
No arrests have been made in this incident…
ABC15.com Staff, “Man dead after entering, shooting inside Phoenix restaurant Saturday night,” ABC15.com, February 12, 2023.
Memphis, Tennessee, February 14, 2023 (FOX13 Memphis)
The owner of Broadway Pizza on Broad Avenue shot and killed her nephew after an altercation inside of the restaurant, according to a manger who works at the business…
A man was shot and killed inside Memphis’ Broadway Pizza on Broad Avenue, Tuesday February 14, 2023…
According to Reed, that shooting was in self-defense.
“He just got upset about something and, all of a sudden, he started to get into it with the owner,” Reed said…
Memphis Police said a woman was detained at the scene but later released with no charges filed against her.
Daniel Wilkerson, “Broadway Pizza shooting leaves man dead, police say,” FOX13 Memphis, February 15, 2023.
Everett, Washington, February 14, 2023 (KIRO 7 News)
On Feb. 14, around 7 p.m., Everett police officers responded to a report of a man bashing in the windows of a car with people in it near the intersection of 18th Street and West Marine View Drive.
When officers got there, a 50-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman said that they were waiting on West Marine View Drive to turn onto 18th Street when the man in the car behind them got out and started breaking their windows with a blunt object.
To stop the man from bashing the car, one of the passengers fired three shots from a handgun and hit the man in the arm…
The man was found by officers at the hospital and booked into the Snohomish County Jail for assault and malicious mischief.
Julia Dallas, “Shots fired over road rage incident in Everett,” KIRO 7 News, February 16, 2023.
Seattle, Washington, February 14, 2023 (King 5)
On Valentine’s night, Yuttana Chanthakhoun and his girlfriend Chanh Saechao were unloading their car and about to grab their young children from the backseat when they say two men approached them with loaded guns and demanded they give up their belongings.
The attempted armed robbery happened outside the couple’s home in Rainier Beach on Feb. 14 around 11 p.m…
Chanthakhoun didn’t think twice. He said he pulled out his own gun to protect himself and his family…
Madison Wade, “Seattle father recovering after being shot 3 times in attempted robbery with girlfriend, children nearby,” King 5, February 23, 2023.
Saint Louis, Missouri, February 15, 2023 (FOX 2 Now)
A man was shot and killed in a failed carjacking on Wednesday morning.
Nic Lopez, FOX 2’s Nissan Rogue Runner reporter, took video of the scene at the Gulf gas station on the 1300 block of North Tucker. Police said a man attempted to rob a driver in a white Chevy Malibu while he was getting gas, but the victim shot and killed the suspect…
Nic Lopez and Laura Simon, “Suspect shot and killed in failed robbery,” FOX 2 Now, February 15, 2023.
El Paso, Texas, February 17, 2023 (El Paso Times)
A bystander shot and helped detain a 16-year-old boy suspected of fatally shooting another teen as two groups fought in Cielo Vista Mall, El Paso police said late Friday night…
The argument between the groups escalated into a physical fight during which the 16-year-old suspect pulled out a gun and fatally shot Zaragoza and seriously wounded the 17-year-old boy who was with Zaragoza, officials said…
After the shooting, the suspect ran away while pointing his gun toward the direction of bystanders, including a 32-year-old man, police said.
The bystander pulled out his gun as the suspect ran towards him and other bystanders and shot the suspect, police said. Police identified the bystander as being licensed to carry a firearm…
The El Paso Times is not identifying the bystander since he has not been charged with a crime…
Police initially stated after the shooting that the off-duty police officers was responsible for taking the suspect into custody and never mentioned a bystander being involved.
There were at least two other legally armed bystanders in the area where the shooting took place, but were not involved, police said. Texas has a constitutional carry gun law allowing 21-year-old and older residents to carry concealed weapons…
Aaron Martinez and Vic Kolenc, “Bystander shot Cielo Vista Mall gunman as suspect fled fight while pointing gun,” El Paso Times, February 17, 2023.
Lenoir, North Carolina, February 17, 2023 (Hickory Daily Record)
No charges have been issued in a Lenoir shooting that occurred early Friday morning. One man was seriously injured in the shooting…
Shortly before 12:15 a.m. Friday, Lenoir police officers responded to a shooting that occurred behind a business at 812 West Ave., police said. According to Google Maps, the Antique Market of Lenoir is located at the address.
The preliminary investigation revealed that Richard Wakefield, of Lenoir, encountered Lefevers, of Connelly Springs, in the alleyway behind 812 West Ave. Upon initial investigation, it appears Lefevers entered a vehicle belonging to Wakefield. Items were removed from inside the vehicle, Lenoir police said.
Wakefield discovered his vehicle being broken into. A struggle ensued between Lefevers and Wakefield. At some point during the struggle, Lenoir police said, Wakefield brandished a .22-caliber handgun and shot Lefevers…
Sarah Johnson, “No charges issued in Lenoir shooting; Connelly Springs man seriously injured,” Hickory Daily Record, February 18, 2023.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, February 17, 2023 (WBTW)
Michael James Alexander Perez, 33, allegedly entered Jacob the Jeweler on Hackler Street Friday afternoon and said he needed their Rolexes before he was shot by a store employee, according to police.
The jewelry store employee suffered an “apparent minor injury,” according to the report. He declined treatment.
Perez allegedly dropped his gun after he was shot, according to an event report obtained by News13. He reportedly fired shots but missed…
Kevin Accettulla and Claire Purnell, “Report names suspect shot by Market Common jewelry store employee during attempted armed robbery,” WBTW, February 21, 2023.
Union City, Georgia, February 18, 2023 (FOX 5 Atlanta)
Union City Police are praising a neighbor they say stopped a man who stabbed three women early Saturday morning…
Police said it turned out that two women had already been attacked, and Dobbs would just happen to step outside when the suspect began to stab a third victim…
“As the male subject was assaulting these female subjects with the knife, an onlooker saw the assault taking place,” Cpt. Brooks said. “He stepped up and stopped the threat. He did shoot the suspect.”
Police said one of the women died after the stabbing.
“We actually commend him for what he did and stepping up,” the captain added…
Kim Leoffler, “Union City neighbor shoots man he witnessed stabbing woman,” FOX 5 Atlanta, February 18, 2023.
Seattle, Washington, February 20, 2023 (SPD Blotter)
Officers arrived at approximately 04:00 p.m. in the 7700 block of 15th Avenue Northwest and located two men with gunshot wounds. Community members assisted with medical care prior to police arrival.
It appears the 29-year-old male suspect attempted to rob the business by gunpoint and shot at the 38-year-old male employee victim. The victim fired back at the suspect who left the store after the shots were fired…
Detective Judinna Gulpan, “Robbery Suspect Shot in Ballard Neighborhood,” SPD Blotter, February 20, 2023.
Chicago, Illinois, February 21, 2023 (CWB Chicago)
A Lincoln Park man fired shots at a catalytic converter theft crew that pointed a gun at him overnight, according to a Chicago police report. No injuries were reported.
The 73-year-old man saw two thieves trying to steal his catalytic converter in the 2000 block of North Larrabee around 3:40 a.m. He confronted the thieves, and one of them brandished a firearm, prompting the victim to open fire, a police spokesperson said.
Both thieves escaped in a dark SUV, which struck a parked car as they fled the scene, according to police.
Neighbors who called 911 said they heard yelling, followed by two or three gunshots. Police said the victim is licensed to own firearms…
CWB Chicago Staff, “Lincoln Park man, 73, opens fire on catalytic converter thieves,” CWB Chicago, February 21, 2023.
Eddy County, North Dakota, February 22, 2023 (Valley News Live)
The “extremely dangerous” man at the center of a nearly three-day manhunt has been arrested Wednesday. 45-year-old Nicholas Poitra was apprehended around noon Wednesday on a county road in Eddy County, according to law enforcement…
Valley News Live has confirmed a local farmer spotted Poitra walking near his farm, and held him at gunpoint until police arrived. The farmer declined to comment on his heroic act, but said he’s glad the situation is over and hopes for closure for the family…
Bailey Hurley, “Farmer held Sheyenne bar murder suspect at gunpoint until deputies arrived, authorities say,” Valley News Live, February 22, 2023.
Blackstone, Virginia, February 23, 2023 (Courier Record)
Blackstone Police won’t say exactly how many, but there are reports that up to two dozen 9mm shots were exchanged shortly after 6:30 p.m. last Thursday night in parking lot of Slip-In convenience store on North Main Street…
Police say John Hamilton Gregory, 35, was exiting store when he was fired upon by suspect Shaquan Davaughan Hardy, 35, of Doswell Street. Authorities say Gregory went to his car, retrieved weapon, and returned fire. Police say Hardy was wounded, fled scene, was arrested later that night at VCU Medical Center in Richmond and is being held in Richmond City Jail. Hardy’s cousin — Lionell Lee Hardy, 36, of Green Bay — was arrested Monday by police in Farmville and charged with being an Accessory to Attempted Murder by driving Shaquan Hardy to and from scene Thursday night. Police decline to disclose a possible motive in the shooting. Gregory has not been charged with any offense…
Courier Record Staff, “SLIP-IN SHOOT-OUT,” Courier Record, March 1, 2023.
Greenville, North Carolina, February 23, 2023 (WITN)
Police have arrested a man who was shot last month in an attempted robbery…
The shootout happened in the parking lot of University Square Shopping Center on East 10th Street in Greenville on February 23rd.
During the attempted robbery, Greenville police believe the suspects shot at the victim and that the 26-year-old man returned fire, hitting Parker in the stomach…
The car the three were in was stolen from Rocky Mount and police believe they targeted the victim in this case for his car, as well.
WITN Web Team, “Man wounded in Greenville shootout charged by police,” WITN, March 6, 2023.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 23, 2023 (CBS News Philadelphia)
The incident happened shortly before 1 a.m. inside a bar at South 53rd Street and Woodland Avenue.
According to police, an argument began between the woman and a 23-year-old man inside the bar, which eventually spilled out into the street. Police say the shooting happened outside the bar, not inside it.
Police claim the woman produced a handgun and fired at the man. Investigators say a witness then fired a gun at the woman…
Police say the man has a permit to carry a weapon.
The man is cooperating with investigators, police say.
No arrests have been made as the investigation is ongoing…
CBS News Philadelphia Staff, “Woman fatally shot after argument inside Philadelphia bar: police,” CBS News Philadelphia, February 23, 2023.
Southfield, Michigan, February 24, 2023 (FOX 2 Detroit)
The three men attempted to rob the driver at the restaurant near 10 Mile and Telegraph. After the driver fired shots, the suspects fled.
The driver was armed and shot several times towards the would-be robbers, they got scared – back in their car and sped off, said Deputy Chief Aaron Huguley…
Jessica Dupnack and Amber Ainsworth, “Armored truck driver shoots at attempted robbers outside Southfield McDonald’s,” FOX 2 Detroit, February 24, 2023.
Decatur, Georgia, February 24, 2023 (FOX 5 Atlanta)
Police are investigating a rolling gun battle after a man spotted his girlfriend’s car just hours after three men stole it
Investigators say the group spotted him and opened fire on Clifton Farm Drive Friday morning.
The boyfriend shot back…
One of the suspects was grazed by a bullet.
All three were charged with aggravated assault and auto theft.
As for the boyfriend, he was not injured.
FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team Staff, “Man gets in shootout with crooks after spotting girlfriend’s car, police say,” FOX 5 Atlanta, February 24, 2023.
Nashville, Tennessee, February 26, 2023 (WSMV 4)
No charges have been filed in Sunday afternoon’s road rage-related fatal shooting that appears to have been in self-defense, Metro Police said on Monday.
According to the investigation, Alden R. Jones, 71, was driving aggressively through Hermitage and Old Hickory by speeding and cutting off other drivers. When Jones came to a stop at a traffic light at State Route 45 and Rio Vista Drive, he got out of his vehicle, approached the vehicle directly behind him, and began banging on the driver’s side window with a pistol.
Ricky L. Frizzell Jr., 36, was behind the vehicle Jones was banging on. He attempted to verbally intervene, according to police. Jones, with pistol in hand, then began approaching Frizzell’s vehicle. Frizzell, who had gotten out, yelled for Jones to stop, not come any closer, and warned him that he also had a gun, police said.
Jones continued to approach and was at a very close distance when Frizzell fired, saying he did so in defense of himself and his wife, who was a passenger in the vehicle…
Chuck Morris and Brendan Tierney, “Madison road-rage fatal shooting likely self-defense, police say,” WSMV 4, February 27, 2023.
Marengo, Ohio, February 26, 2023 (NBC4i.com)
A man who was shot and killed in Morrow County Sunday night went on a crime spree in Columbus just an hour before the fatal shooting, according to Columbus police.
Police said that for about 30 minutes, Keith D. Moser, 25, committed a series of crimes throughout the city. Moser was killed when he tried to steal a vehicle at a gas station in Marengo, Ohio, just before 7 p.m. Sunday.
Columbus police said that at 6:28 p.m. Sunday, Moser fired a gun into an unoccupied Chevrolet, which was locked and left running at a gas station on the 4000 block of Kenny Road. Moser left behind a Toyota and fled the scene in the Chevrolet. No injuries were reported.
At 6:36 p.m., police said Moser abandoned the Chevrolet on Starret Road. People on the 200 block of West Henderson Road called 911 to report shots fired during an attempted robbery/home invasion. Moser stole a BMW X3 from the area. No injuries were reported.
At 6:47 p.m., Moser allegedly tried to rob a food delivery driver on the 400 block of Glenmont Avenue. Again, shots were fired, but no one was injured.
Then, just before 7 p.m., the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office said Moser tried to steal a car on the ramp off of State Route 61 and Interstate 71. After shooting at the car, Moser went to a Shell gas station, where he tried to steal a minivan. Moser allegedly fired his gun, shooting Megan Stanford, of Greenville, South Carolina, and killing her, the sheriff’s office said.
Moser then allegedly shot at a U-Haul van. The driver of the van returned fire and a fight broke out between several people, the sheriff’s office said. Moser was shot several times and died at the scene.
Daniel Griffin, “Morrow County suspect embarked on Columbus crime spree before fatal shooting: police,” NBC4i.com, February 28, 2023.
Houston, Texas, February 27, 2023 (CW 39 Houston)
Police say a group of men were standing outside of a Shell gas station at 647 Greens Road a little after midnight when a man wearing a ski mask walked up to them and pulled out a gun, attempting to rob him.
One of the men then pulled out his own weapon and shot the man multiple times, police said. The person who was shot fled the scene and was taken to a hospital by a private vehicle, but later died at the hospital…
Chad Washington, “Possible attempted robbery leads to fatal shooting at north Houston gas station,” CW 39 Houston, February 27, 2023.
When people were using Motor Voter they were asked if the applicant is a U.S. citizen, and some foreign nationals clearly checked the “NO,” but they were registered anyway. However, starting in 2018, Illinois stopped asking people that question. Unfortunately, the federal government does not have a complete database election officials can query to identify non-citizens masquerading as citizens in voter rolls. Even the Department of Homeland Security’s alien entitlements database does not have every non-citizen in the United States. The bottom line is that there is no way to catch people who entered the country illegally and were never identified to the government.
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Since 2007, Chicago city records show the sporadic removals of 394 foreign nationals from the voter registration roll. From this group, 20 individuals are recorded casting 85 ballots. This is not an inventory of every non-citizen vote, but only those who informed election officials they were not an American citizen.
Public Interest Legal Foundation, “CHICAGO RECORDS: 394 FOREIGN NATIONALS REMOVED FROM VOTER ROLL,” May 23rd, 2023
Television police shows work closely with gun control groups to push for gun control, but usually their push gun control in more subtle ways. They show AR-15s as machine guns or show people who use guns defensively either harm others or themselves or push myths about ghost guns. But in this episode of NBC’s Law & Order (Season 22, Episode 22, May 18, 2023), District Attorney Jack McCoy (played by Sam Waterston) calls for “common sense” gun control. A gun control advocate fatally shoots a US Senator because the Senator changed his vote and opposed a gun control law. The gun control advocate had been a victim of a school shooting, and he had been extremely traumatized by that experience. Indeed, that experience is offered as the murderer’s defense. In particular, the show is pushing a ban on assault weapons.
To the show’s creators, more gun regulations are the only obvious solution to stop mass public shootings. No one considers the dangers of gun-free zones. No one notes that there have been no shooting attacks where anyone has been killed or wounded at any of the thousands of schools with armed teachers.
Law & Order Season 22, Episode 22, May 18, 2023
In many states, Democrats are pushing to raise the age that people can legally buy a gun to 21 years old. The main argument in favor of this point is that 18, 19, and 20-year-olds commit firearm-related crimes at relatively high rates, and that is true. But it is irrelevant to the ban that they are pushing. The issue isn’t whether that age group as a whole commit crimes but whether those who can legally buy a gun commit crimes. After all, about 90 percent of murderers already have a violent criminal history and are already banned from buying a gun. The question is whether those who can legally buy a gun will commit crimes because those are the only ones affected by the ban. Data compiled for several states indicates that 18 to 20-year-olds who can pass background checks tend to be very law-abiding.
Non-shootings mass murders don’t get the attention that mass murders with guns obtain. Between January 1, 1998 and May 6, 2023, 93% of the mass public shootings in the United States have fewer people murdered. Guyana has only 797,553 people, one 419th the population of the United States (334,233,854). So there are 99 mass public shootings in the United States and on a per capita rate Guyana would have 419 of these mass murders.
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A 15-year-old schoolgirl from Guyana was charged Monday as an adult for the murder of 19 people after police accused her of purposefully setting fire to a school dormitory in retaliation for her cell phone being confiscated.
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The fire killed 18 of her schoolmates and a five-year-old boy trapped inside the building after a dorm matron locked the doors from the inside to prevent the female students, aged 12-18, from sneaking out to socialize with males from a nearby mining town. . . .
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One of the critically injured students was sent to a hospital in New York for specialist treatment, though the majority of the injured students have been discharged.
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Caitlin McFall, “Teenage girl charged with killing 19 in school dorm fire after cell phone confiscated: report,” Fox News, May 30, 2023.
Advanced artificial intelligence technology can be used to stalk and even predict an unsuspecting victim’s movements. All the user would need is a photo and advanced artificial intelligence technology that already exists.
“So, for example, if you run into someone in public, and you’re able to get a photo of them, you might be able to find their name using online services. And if you pay enough, you might be able to find where they’ve been, where they might currently be and even predict where they’ll go.”
One company, PimEyes, which is an online face search engine that scours the internet to reverse image search, is fending off a legal complaint in the United Kingdom filed by privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch.
The company says its product is intended to allow people to search for publicly available information about themselves, but Big Brother Watch said its uses can be much more sinister and are a “great threat to privacy of millions of U.K. residents,” according to the complaint. . . .
C.A. Goldberg, a New York City-based victims’ rights law firm dealing with AI-related crimes, warned the country about AI’s potential uses in stalking.
“AI could enable offenders to track and monitor their victims with greater ease and precision than ever before,” the law firm wrote in a blog post on its website.
The law firm said AI-powered software analyzes vast amounts of data “in the blink of an eye,” which could give stalkers real-time access to their victims’ online activity and real-life whereabouts. . . .
Chris Eberhart, “Who is watching you? AI can stalk unsuspecting victims with ‘ease and precision’: experts,” Fox News, May 30, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on America’s Voice Live about his latest op-ed at The Federalist, titled “If Brazil’s Firearm Ban Is So Great, Why Won’t Gun-Control Activists Bet On It?“
(Wednesday, May 17, 2023)
Gun control advocates usually don’t go around calling for banning all guns even though that has been obvious to everyone else, but at least they aren’t hiding what they want any more. The fact that they are pointing to Australia as any example where guns have been banned is depressing both because they really believe that a ban on guns reduces crime when all gun and handgun bans are associated with increased murder rates and Australia never banned all guns.
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As we wrap our interview in her office, I ask how she keeps coming back to a challenge so deeply ingrained in politics. She pauses for 12 pregnant seconds.
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“No more guns,” she says.
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Ambler, her aide and adviser, tries to clarify that she means no more gun violence, but Giffords is clear about what she’s saying. “No, no, no,” she says. “Lord, no.” She pauses another 32 seconds. “Guns, guns, guns. No more guns. Gone.”
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An aide clarifies that she’s talking about Australia, where gun sales were outlawed after a mass shooting and existing weapons were purchased by the government. Giffords nods in the affirmative. It’s an idealistic goal, for sure, and one perhaps mismatched for the moment in this country. But Giffords has an answer for that: “Legislation, legislation, legislation.”
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It’s ambitious. But that’s the whole point of working inside Giffords’ orbit. And she is never going to apologize for her fight on something so personal. . . .
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Philip Elliott, “‘No More Guns. Gone’: Why Gabby Giffords Isn’t Giving Up,” Time, April 26, 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on NewsMax’s Chris Salcedo Show to discuss Democrats’ call for major gun control on Uvalde Shooting Anniversary. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s latest op-ed at The Federalist, titled “If Brazil’s Firearm Ban Is So Great, Why Won’t Gun-Control Activists Bet On It?“ (Thursday, May 25, 2023, from 4:47 to 4:53 PM […]
It is pretty scary when the FBI keeps on inserting itself into elections. The FBI has interfered with every election from 2016 on. The fact that they used surveillance on 19,000 donors to a Republican congressional candidate’s campaign is very troubling. There doesn’t appear to be any evidence that anyone was disciplined for these various […]
Anyone who is involved in the legal system knows that court cases are filled with people who have vastly different recollections about events. Some of that might simply arise from mistaken impressions, but it might also be because of people lying. However, what is clear is that people are rarely convicted of perjury and police are virtually never convicted, even though there is substantial evidence of them lying. A law professor friend of the CPRC, who has practiced criminal law and taught it, summarized for us his class lectures on this issue for us.
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about how often civilians use their guns defensively to stop crimes and the release of transgender school shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto has been put on hold. They also discussed John’s bet to pro-gun control advocates about Brazil’s new firearm ban, the executive order signed by Brazil’s newly inaugurated president, banning sales of guns and ammunition after four years of increased gun ownership that grew six-fold.
(Monday, May 22, 2023, from 9:32 to 9:58 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Gary Nolan on KSSZ-FM across central Missouri about Lott’s bet to pro-gun control advocates about Brazil’s new firearm ban about the executive order signed by Brazil’s newly inaugurated president banning sales of guns and ammunition after four years of increased gun ownership that grew six-fold.
(Saturday, May 13, 2023)
In 2022, there were 12,473 anonymous calls to the state and about 1,000 of those calls resulted in a substantiated finding of abuse or neglect, said Kate Murphy, director of child protection policy with the advocacy group Texans Care for Children. . . .
“Unfortunately, the DFPS and Child Protective Services can often be used as a weapon. A lot of times we see this in divorce cases. We probably all know of a circumstance where a family was needlessly traumatized because of an anonymous tip that was ultimately found to be false,” said[Sen. Kevin Sparks, R-Midland]. . . .
Stephen Simpson, “Texas bill barring anonymous reporting of child abuse heads to Gov. Greg Abbott,” The Texas Tribune, May 18, 2023.
For those worried about people using the legal system to be vindictive or to harm innocent people, the extremely high false accusation rate here should be a concern. For those concerned about Red Flag laws being abused, this is something to take note. In addition, while it is possible that some cases that are unsubstantiated might involve real cases, it is also possible that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services will see cases of abuse where none exist. Like most government agencies, they are more likely to err on the side of thinking that their services are needed, so it is possible that this error rate might be even higher than 92%.
The above video is about what Dr. John Lott went through to testify before the Oregon State Senate Judiciary Committee. A copy of his testimony is shown below.
When John Lott, founder and CEO of the Crime Prevention Research Center, was called to be an expert witness—as he has been many times before—for a Oregon state committee hearing, he was happy to oblige.
With a 10-hour trek standing between his home in Montana and the state capitol in Salem, Oregon, Lott set out to testify. He had a lot to say, as Oregon state recently passed one of the most-restrictive gun-control packages ever with Measure 114.
What happened next was a shocking act of political maneuvering to suppress an expert witness. Lott got a call saying he wouldn’t be able to testify. He kept making inquiries as he drove and finally was told he could speak for a total of two minutes but that no one would be allowed to ask him any questions—the thing is, Q&A sessions are typically much longer than a person’s prepared testimony, so even with two minutes (less time than any popular song) to speak, legislators would not be allowed to get his analysis of proposed laws.
What Lott said, and what happened after, is worth hearing.
Frank Miniter, “John Lott Said What?” America’s 1st Freedom, May 25, 2023.
Here is a copy of the testimony that Dr. Lott provided in Oregon.
Dr. John Lott talked to Vince Coglianese on WMAL about the wisdom in the Covenant Church in Nashville wanting to stop the release of the trans shooter’s manifesto, the DOJ’s new plan to ignore crime statistics, and John’s bet to pro-gun control advocates about Brazil’s new firearm ban.
(Wednesday, May 17, 2023)
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, NBC’s The Blacklist TV show is no different (Season 10, Episode 1, February 26, 2023). This episode shows an organized crime group breaking into a federal prison facility and using machine guns.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type, and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 10, Episode 1, February 26, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1, Episode 13, February 21, 2023.
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023, Episode 15, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14): Episode 10, January 9, 2023, Episode 11, January 15, 2023..
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6): Episode 16, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s True Lies (Season 1): Episode 4, March 22, 2023.
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,.
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 10): Episode 1, February 26, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago
Here is some of the text from the news segment.
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Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said the shooter, later identified as a 28-year-old woman who identifies as transgender, had a detailed map, drawings of the school, and known entry points.
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John Lott, who is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, said “that’s very common.”
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Lott has been studying mass shootings for more than 25 years. He added that it’s “extremely unusual” for the writings not to be released. . . .
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Lott mentioned other mass shootings in which suspects scouted out places ahead of an attack, similar to Covenant. . . .
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During the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting in 2012, writings revealed the shooter decided not to attack an airport because of too much security.
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Lott said he believes it’s common for mass murderers to consider if they think folks will have guns.
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That’s similar to the limited information known about the Covenant shooter, as police said the shooter had other locations in mind, but due to security measures, did not go there.
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Lott said the writings are “extremely important” and often add insight into mass shootings, as well as the suspects.
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“You know what goes through their minds and why they pick the targets that they did,” said Lott. . . .
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Amanda Chin, “Expert says delay to release Tennessee school shooter’s writings ‘extremely unusual’,” Fox 17 WZTV, May 18, 2023.
As we have previously discussed, a common claim is that firearms are the leading cause of death for “children or adolescents.” That claim is clearly false. Homicide data is used here, but homicides involve both murders and justifiable homicides, and it is hardly obvious why justifiable homicides should be included here. Doing so inflates the total number of firearm related deaths, but put that concern aside.
For those under 18, vehicle deaths are consistently greater than those from firearms. For those under 20, firearm deaths exceed vehicle deaths for 2020 and 2021 when you use the CDC firearm homicide data. When you use the FBI homicide data the vehicle deaths exceed the firearm deaths for 2019 and 2020, and likely 2021, though the FBI data isn’t available for that year. The bottom line is that about 1/3rd of the firearm deaths for those under 20 involve homicide where the victims are 18 and 19 years old. About another 20% of involves homicides for 15, 16, and 17 year olds. These deaths are largely gang related, and even banning guns is unlikely to stop drug gangs from getting a hold of guns to protect their extremely valuable drugs.
Suicides should also be excluded because the common claim is that if guns are eliminated people either won’t try to commit suicide or won’t be able to successfully do it. Yet, in places where guns are banned, total suicide rates remain unchanged — people change how they commit suicide. Excluding firearm suicides would reduce numbers from the CDC by 30 to 35 percent. With the FBI murder data, firearm suicides make up 38 to 42 percent of the total. So for example, in 2020 for those under 20, removing suicides would reduce the number of firearm deaths using the numbers from the CDC from 4,253 to 2,960 and using the FBI murder rate data from 3,405 to 2,112. There are lots of other very effective ways for people to commit suicides, such as hanging, walking in front of a train, jumping from a height, explosives, or cyanide (source here). More on suicides available here.
An Excel file with the data is available here.
Comparing-Motor-Vehicle-to-Firearm-DeathsDownload
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Michigan Talk Network with Steve Gruber to discuss the policies that have resulted in more violent crime.
(Monday, May 8, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed in the Detroit News with Phil Green, who represents the 67th House District in Michigan and is the chair of the House Second Amendment Caucus.
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During the first quarter of 2023, Detroit had the fifth highest murder rate in the country, according to preliminary police department crime data compiled by WalletHub.
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Gun control advocates propose to help by banning people from carrying permitted concealed handguns in the city.
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Police are critical to stopping crime. Academic research shows that policing is probably the single most important factor in reducing it.
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But the police themselves realize that, even in normal times, they virtually always arrive on the crime scene after the crime has occurred.
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In 2013, police response times in Detroit averaged 50 minutes.
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By 2018, it was down to 12 minutes. Compare that to cities such as Los Angeles and New York, where the response times were 5.7 and 4.6 minutes.
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Even if a crime victim is able to make a call, 12 minutes is a long time when seconds matter.
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PoliceOne surveyed more than 15,000 police professionals across ranks and department sizes in 2013 and found that 91% percent of the members support liberally issued concealed handgun permits.
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The National Association of Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs are similarly supportive. Those are first responders who are on the scenes of these tragedies every day.
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Academic criminologists and economists who have published peer-reviewed research on guns also agree.
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Surveys show that they had the same top four preferred policies for stopping mass public shootings, and this included letting people carry concealed handguns and getting rid of gun-free zones.
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Concealed carry permit holders are remarkably law-abiding. In the 19 states with comprehensive data, the average revocation rate for any reason is about one-tenth of 1%.
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The data for Michigan is very similar. Permit holders are convicted of firearms-related violations at one-twelfth the rate of police officers.
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Research from the Crime Prevention Research Center has demonstrated that the two groups that benefit the most from carrying guns are the likeliest victims of crime — underprivileged Americans in high-crime, urban areas and people who are physically weaker such as women or the elderly.
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Murderers are deterred when people carry concealed handguns, be they man or woman.
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If you still aren’t convinced, just read the manifestos and diaries from mass public shooters about why they picked the targets that they do.
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The Biden administration has yet to release the Nashville school shooter’s manifesto, but Nashville Police Chief John Drake has seen it.
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“There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” said Drake.
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Unfortunately, no one at The Covenant School had a gun to fight back with.
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These murderers count on gun-free zones to ensure they will be the only armed person present. Last year, the Tops Friendly Markets shooter in Buffalo wrote in his manifesto: “Areas where CCW permits are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack.”
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We have seen that in recent attacks on an Old National Bank in Louisville, an outlet mall in Allen, Texas and a hospital in Atlanta.
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Police are important. But if we are going to be serious about protecting vulnerable people, we have to let them protect themselves.
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Phil Green and John Lott Jr., “Concealed weapons could save lives,” Detroit News, May 23, 2023.
Fox News has a news article on a bet that Dr. John Lott offered twelve prominent pro-gun control academics. He wrote about this offer in The Federalist and in the piece he deals with the claims made below by a couple of the academics.
A gun expert is asking academics to put their money where their mouths are and bet $1,000 on Brazil as a case study that stricter gun laws won’t mean less crime.
No one has taken him up on the bet yet, but some have hit back by calling the challenge a “stunt” and saying they will put cash up if the terms meet their requirements.
Brazil took a hard turn away from gun ownership with a new left-wing presidential administration this year, sparking a debate on whether Brazil’s falling crime rate would increase or continue to fall as it did under former President Jair Bolsonaro.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn into office in January, and his first order of business was working to reverse the previous administration’s pro-gun policies, including a decree that ordered citizens to register their firearms with the Federal Police, limiting the maximum number of guns a person can own from six to three, and suspending new firearm registrations.
The policies stand in stark contrast to those of Bolsonaro’s administration. Gun ownership increased sixfold in Brazil under Bolsonaro’s tenure, which lasted from January 2019 to December 2022, as the then-president issued more than a dozen decrees that loosened laws around citizens’ access to guns.
In 2019, Brazil’s homicide rate fell by 19% compared to 2018 at 41,635 killings – the lowest murder rate in more than a decade. By 2022, the number of homicides fell to 40,824 in the country.
In December, Johns Hopkins University professor Dan Webster said in an article published in the Washington Post that in Brazil, “every 1 percent increase in firearm ownership is associated with a 0.6 percent increase in overall homicide rates.”
John Lott, an economist and academic who leads the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) – which for years has researched and argued that an increase in firearm ownership does not mean higher crime rates – read Webster’s December comment and said it partially motivated him to embark on a betting challenge with fellow gun and crime researchers.
“How could somebody with a straight face go and tell the Washington Post this is what he believes the relationship is,” Lott told Fox News Digital. “Nobody calls him on it. It was kind of what I finally saw his statement in the Washington Post, that’s what kind of got me to go and offer people the bets.”
Lott said he reached out to 12 academics in the U.S. earlier this year with a proposal: A $1,000 bet on whether the homicide rate would increase in Brazil under Lula and his administration’s gun ownership crackdown.
“Here is what I offer you. Let’s bet $1,000 and make it simple on whether the homicide rate in Brazil will go up or down during the first two years of Lula’s presidency. If the homicide rate goes down from what it was in 2022, I will pay you $1,000. If it goes up, you will pay me $1,000,” Lott wrote in his emails to fellow academics, which were provided to Fox News Digital.
“If you prefer, we can designate charities that we want the money to go to. Given the importance you put on gun control and the large percentage change in gun ownership that Lula is imposing, you should expect a substantial drop in homicides, but, as I say, let’s keep it simple on whether the homicide rate goes up or down.”
Lott published an op-ed about the bet on The Federalist last week, noting that seven of the 12 academics didn’t respond to his offer while the other five did not take him up on the bet.
“These academics have no problem confidently making predictions for the press or legislative committees about the future effects of gun-control laws. But they aren’t willing to put their money where their mouths are in a way that would make people remember their bad predictions. Maybe that’s because they already know the crime-fighting benefits of private gun ownership,” Lott wrote in the op-ed.
Lott provided Fox News Digital with his correspondence with academics, including Duke University professor Phil Cook, for example, who told Lott, “I like the idea of a bet, but am not going to take this one, since I have no confidence that guns and ammo will actually become scarcer in the neighborhoods with high rates of violence.”
Indiana University’s Paul Helmke told Lott that he’s “not in the practice of making bets,” and while it “sounds like some interesting developments in Brazil,” Helmke said he is not familiar enough with the country’s data collections and crime issues.
Lott cited Webster’s comment to the Washington Post in his op-ed, noting that under the Johns Hopkins University professor’s prediction, there should have been a 360% increase in homicides in Brazil based on the 600% increase in gun ownership.
“If that were true, an over 600% increase in gun ownership should have resulted in a more than 360% increase in homicides, not a 34% drop. Instead, the researchers attributed the drop to a slight decline in the 12-to-29 age group’s population share and ‘a decade of investment in policing’ in some parts of the country, even though murders fell in all but one of the country’s 26 states,” Lott wrote.
The CPRC chief added that before Bolsonaro took office in 2018, “The homicide rate stood at 27.8 per hundred thousand people – 5.5 times higher than the U.S. rate” before falling to 18.5 in 2021 – a rate the country had not seen since the early 1990s.
A handful of the 12 academics responded to Fox News Digital’s inquiries on the bet, including Stanford University’s John Donohue, who said he rebutted Lott with previous crime data from Texas in the 1990s.
“I asked him why when Texas prohibited gun carrying for protection, Houston and NYC had the same murder rate in the early 1990s, but when Texas changed to be very permissive towards guns, Houston now has a murder rate three times as high as NYC. John was unwilling to concede that the pro-gun shift had hurt Texas, saying that other factors explain why it has done so poorly relative to New York,” Donohue told Fox News Digital.
“But the same would be true for Brazil. Many factors will influence crime in this relatively poor country that is going through a politically and economically turbulent time,” he added.
Other academics characterized the bet as “silly” and a “stunt” and noted they seldom place bets, especially on the “future rates of violence or gun violence.”
“I, for one, do not make predictions about the future rates of violence or gun violence. In the course of my lifetime, I’ve seen huge swings in violence rates in the United States, driven by changes in culture, demography, civil unrest and law enforcement,” Cook said, pointing to how recent history has shown that homicide rates have exploded or halved in ways that were not foreseeable and could not be attributable to gun ownership.
“Predicting the gun violence rate five years from now in the U.S. or Brazil or anywhere else is a fool’s errand,” he added.
University of California, Davis, professor Garen Wintemute told Fox News Digital that not taking the bet was “not about Brazil,” and he included a link to a 2022 New Yorker piece on Lott and conservatives’ support of the Second Amendment. . . .
Emma Colton, “Firearms expert taunts pro-gun control academics with bet on rising crime,” Fox News, May 23, 2023.
An article in the New York Post discusses a new ride-share service where you can get an armed driver for protection. This is one way to avoid gun-free zones. Right now the ride-service is offered in Atlanta and New York City.
The surge in violent crime nationwide has inspired a former bodyguard to launch a ride-sharing app that features armed drivers — with plans for a Big Apple launch within the next four months.
Kerry King Brown — a 32-year-old former private investigator who worked for Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — is the brains behind Black Wolf, a startup that currently has around 15 cars servicing the Metro Atlanta area.
“Who are mostly on the news getting robbed, getting raped? The average person,” Brown told Atlanta News First. “What I’m creating is a necessary evil. It’s a necessity.”
In the week since it has launched, there have been some 80,000 downloads, according to Atlanta First News.
“Every Black Wolf App vehicle comes equipped with GPS Tracking and Live-streaming technology that allows our riders to share with their loved ones,” the company says on its Facebook page. . . .
Ariel Zilber, “‘Uber with guns’: Black Wolf ride-sharing app has armed drivers — and it’s coming to NYC,” New York Post, May 22, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Joe Piscopo on his radio show in New York City about the recent shootings including the Texas shooting in which 9 teenagers were shot and wounded at an after-prom party.
(Monday, April 24, 2023, from 7:05 to 7:12 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss his new piece at The Federalist titled “If There’s A Theme To Extremism-Related Murders, It’s Environmentalism.” The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and much of the corporate media are intent on construing any racist as a conservative right-winger — but it’s not true.
(Friday, March 3, 2023, from 5:16 to 5:23 PM EST)
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
The Allen Premium Outlet massacre that left multiple people dead occurred in yet another gun-free zone. A link to their weapons policy is available here. We don’t know yet whether it is a gang shooting or something else, but we do know that it took place in a gun-free zone. Other cases of mass murders in these gun-free zones can be seen here.
UPDATE: eight were murdered, and seven wounded.
Easy to hide, inexpensive technology is making criminals job riskier.
Two Chicago men were arrested for a $1.1 million armored truck armed robbery after being tracked down via an AirTag hidden amongst the money.
The AirTag is a controversial quarter-sized tracking device made by Apple. It is meant to help users keep track of objects like keychains and backpacks, but they have been used for different, sometimes nefarious purposes.
According to a report from Chicago’s WGN9, a hidden AirTag led to the arrest of two men who stole $1.1 million from an armored Brink truck. The device was hidden in one of the plastic money bins, likely placed there by the asset owner. . . .
Wesley Hilliard, “,AirTag foils $1.1 million armed robbery of an armored truck” Apple Insider, May 05, 2023.
This talk was motivated by Nikki Goeser’s book Stalked and Defenseless, and the implications her story has for the dangers from gun-free zones. Her story also has implications for Red Flag laws. Dr. John Lott substituted for Nikki in two of the three talks and she did it remotely with Lott on a third one.
The second version has the last part of Nikki’s presentation, but unfortunately, because of her doing the talk remotely it is someone difficult to hear her speak.
Verison 1 with just John Lott Substituting for Nikki GoeserVerison 2 with part of Nikki Goeser’s talk and John Lott then Substituting for Nikki Goeser — unfortunately, with the set up we had it is difficult to hear Nikki’s portion
Here is dramatic defensive gun use by a civilian legally carrying a concealed handgun.
A shopper at a southeast Houston convenience store opened fire when four masked robbers stormed inside, sending three suspects to the hospital.
Houston police said at least one of the robbery suspects was armed.
HPD officers were called to a Circle K convenience store at a Valero gas station located at 8040 South Loop East at 7:55 p.m. Thursday.
According to Asst. Chief Ernest Garcia, four suspects in masks entered the store and started robbing customers at gunpoint.
That’s when an armed customer pulled out their weapon and shot at the suspects, Garcia said. Three of the robbery suspects were shot. . . .
Staff, “3 suspects shot when customer opened fire during robbery at SE Houston gas station, HPD says,” KTRK ABC Channel 13 (Houston, Texas), April 14, 2023.
Ann Coulter: “Magnificent interview with the brilliant economist and crime researcher John Lott!“
Dr. John Lott talked to Ann Coulter about a wide range of topics, including Background Checks, Constitutional Carry, Concealed Carry Permits, National Gun Registry, Defensive Gun Uses, and Murder Concentration in the United States.
(Thursday, April 13, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about the testimony before the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety on multiple bills, including raising the age to 21, universal background checks, waiting periods, and paperwork requirements for gun dealers.
(Sunday, April 23, 2023, from 8:35 to 9 PM ET)
Dr. John R Lott Jr. talked to Mark Pellegrino on The Daily Objective about the recent mass public shootings and the debate on gun control in the United States.
(Wednesday, April 12, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about the testimony before the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety on HB 2744, raising the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles to 21. They also discussed the original purpose of the 2nd Amendment and why gun-free zones favor the shooter over the victims.
(Monday, April 24, 2023, from 9:32 to 9:58 AM ET)
Six people were murdered at a church in Germany and three others were murdered at a pigeon race in Portugal.
A man fatally shot three people before turning his gun on himself, Portuguese police said Sunday, in what local media described as a dispute among rival pigeon racers.…
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The four dead individuals were participating in a pigeon race, Portuguese media reported from the scene, and their disagreement also centered on an illegal vegetable garden. . . .
Associated Press, “Man kills 3, self, in dispute among Portuguese pigeon racers,” ABC News, April 30, 2023.
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A number of people have been killed in a shooting at a church in Hamburg, Germany, police say.
The shooting took place on Deelböge street in the Gross Borstel district. Local media identified the location as a Jehovah’s Witness centre.
Police say a gunman is believed to be dead. It is unclear if the attacker is among six or seven fatalities reported by German media.
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As yet, “there is no reliable information on the motive”, police say.
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A police spokesman said investigators had “indications that a perpetrator may have been in the building and may be even among the dead”. “We have no indications of a perpetrator on the run,” he said.
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“The officers themselves also heard a shot coming from the upper floors of the building,” the spokesman added. “They went upstairs and also found a body there.” . . .
Jenny Hill & Jaroslav Lukiv, “Hamburg shooting: Seven killed in attack on Jehovah’s Witness hall,” BBC News, March 10, 2023.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, More Media Bias: CBS’s FBI Most Wanted TV show is no different (Season 4, Episode 15, March 14, 2023). This episode shows an Iranian terrorist organization using machine guns many times during the episode.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type, and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 4, Episode 15, March 14, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1, Episode 13, February 21, 2023.
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023, Episode 15, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14): Episode 10, January 9, 2023, Episode 11, January 15, 2023..
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6): Episode 16, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s True Lies (Season 1): Episode 4, March 22, 2023.
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023.
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 10): Episode 1, February 26, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
Dr. John Lott, President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, appeared on KGVO-AM’s Talk Back program for an hour and a half to discuss the Nashville school shooting and statistics on school shooters.
(Monday, April 10, 2023, from 8:30 to 10:00 AM MT)
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss how often civilians use their guns defensively to stop crimes and how law-abiding concealed handgun permit holders are.
(Tuesday, March 21, 2023, from 6:15 to 6:25 PM EST)
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
Given the huge cost difference between Apple AirTags ($30) and Lojack ($650), AirTags may work where Lojack failed. AirTags have been useful in tracking down other stolen cars.
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. . . “Your phone will be alerted. You know someone’s in your car who’s not supposed to be, and/or it’s stolen. You call 911 as fast as you can. You tell the officers involved ‘I have an AirTag, ‘and they will immediately with citywide apprehension apparatus will start putting that tag citywide,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell.
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The nonprofit, Association for a Better New York (ABNY) is donating 500 of them that will be given out for free citywide, with details to come on the NYPD’s Twitter account.
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The NYPD is blaming TikTok, in part, for driving an increase in theft of Kias and Hyundais, because of videos instructing thieves. The automakers are offering owners free software updates to help stop the trend. . . .
Sonia Rincon, “Top NYPD officials suggest car owners get AirTag to prevent theft,” ABC 7 NYC, April 30 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on Bill Cunningham’s national Sunday radio show to discuss the recent mass public shootings and a continuation of a pattern for mass shooters picking their targets—Gun-Free Zones.
(Sunday, April 16, 2023)
Dr. John Lott was on NewsMax’s Wake Up America to discuss a new report showing that the cities with the highest murder rates are run by Democrats.
(Saturday, April 29, 2023, from 723 732 AM ET)
Sebastian Gorka: “In the wilderness of mirrors that is information on the Second Amendment and gun crime in America, there is one person I rely on to tell the truth, and his name is John Lott and he has provided more accurate information than anyone else.”
Dr. John Lott talked to Sebastian Gorka on America First about his testimony before the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety. They discussed how most mass shooters ultimately confess – either in court or through their manifestos – to picking minimal-security targets such as gun-free zones, and how this proves that more guns is the solution to stopping such massacres.
(Friday, April 21, 2023, from 4:40 to 4:49 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about his testimony before the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety on HB 2744, raising the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles to 21. They also discussed the original purpose of the 2nd Amendment and why gun-free zones favor the shooter over the victims.
(Friday, April 24, 2023, from 9:32 to 9:58 AM ET)
In a powerfully written decision, Judge Stephen P. McGlynn of the Southern District of Illinois said Illinois’ new assault weapon ban known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, or PICA, is likely to be found unconstitutional when the case goes to trial, and the plaintiffs in the consolidated cases will suffer harm without a preliminary injunction to block its enforcement.
The decision is worth reading, but here are a few noteworthy points.
The decision clearly rebuts the state’s attempt to cleverly rewrite Supreme Court decisions. For example, the defendants wanted to claim that the protections only applied to guns commonly used in self defense. But Judge McGlynn writes: “Plaintiffs rely on recent Supreme Court decisions that made it clear that the Second Amendment protects the possession and use of weapons that are in common use. . . . Finally, although the commonality of ‘arms’ banned under PICA is dispositive, Defendants shifted to the historical tradition of firearm regulation in an attempt to show the constitutionality of PICA.”
The defendants also wanted to say that any protections only applied to certain parts of the guns and not other parts such as the magaine or a pistol brace. But Judge McGlynn strongly strikes down those arguments:
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It is hard to imagine something more closely correlated to the right to use a firearm in self-defense than the ability to effectively load ammunition into the firearm. . . .
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PICA also interferes with the meaningful exercise of Second Amendment rights for one group of individuals — those with disabilities. To provide one example, consider arm braces for semiautomatic pistols. As noted above, PICA prohibits the use of an arm brace on any semiautomatic pistol with a detachable magazine without any caveat or exceptions. The Department of Justice has also attempted to regulate possession and registration of arm braces. However, one notable distinction exists. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) has recognized that such braces are necessary for those with disabilities to use a firearm by directing that “[t]his rule does not affect ‘stabilizing braces’ that are objectively designed and intended as a ‘stabilizing brace’ for use by individuals with disabilities.” . . .
https://rumble.com/embed/v2dnmno/?pub=vzmgaDr. John Lott appeared on One America News Network’s Tipping Point to discuss Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s soft-on-crime policies, which face scrutiny. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s testimony to the Oregon State Senate Committee On Judiciary on SB348. The video is a cut of the interview, and here is the audio of the full version.
(The Tipping Point, One America News, Monday, April 3, 2023)
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss gun deaths rising among U.S. children and teens under the age of 18, including the possible reasons and solutions.
(Thursday, April 20, 2023)
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
From One America News: “President of the crime prevention research center Doctor John Lott says that after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision affirming second amendment rights, Democrats are having tough sledding with recent efforts to push back with legislative limits to gun rights. One America’s John Hines has more from Washington.”
(Friday, March 17, 2023)
Even in a state such as Tennessee, Democrats appear to want to ban all semi-automatic guns. But there is a real cost to law-abiding civilians from banning semi-auto guns. For example, if you ban all semi-auto rifles, the alternative is a manually loaded gun, where you have to physically yourself load another bullet in the chamber after each shot. But if you have to fire more than one round because you are facing multiple criminals, fire and miss, or wound but don’t incapacitate the attacker, you might not have the time to load another bullet in the chamber.
The president of the Crime Research Prevention Center, John Lott, told the Sun that citizens who use firearms in self-defense are required under law to demonstrate reasonable fear for their lives.
“Stand Your Ground laws require a reasonable person standard,” Mr. Lott said in a message. “A reasonable person must believe that there was a threat of death or serious injury.”
He added: “In the Yarl case, the young man was on the other side of the door and no threats were being made, no weapon was being shown … No reasonable person would conclude that there was a real threat there.” . . .
Matthew Rice, “‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws Face Renewed Scrutiny Amid Spree of Violence,” The New York Sun, April 21, 2023.
“Gun-free zones are ineffective and make our schools less safe. Since 1950, 94 percent of mass public shootings have occurred in places where citizens are banned from having guns,” Massie said in the release, citing an op-ed from pro-gun Crime Prevention Research Center. “Banks, churches, sports stadiums, and many of my colleagues in Congress are protected with firearms. Yet children inside the classroom are too frequently left vulnerable.” . . .
Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez, “Rep. Thomas Massie reintroduces bill to let governments allow guns in school zones,” Louisville Courier Journal, April 7, 2023.
Massie also said that shootings have never happened at “the hundreds of schools that allow staff to carry.” He cited a 2019 studyfrom researcher John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center that examined school shootings from 2000 to 2018. Lott’s work is often cited by gun control opponents to argue that restrictions aren’t a solution to curbing gun violence. . . .
Jayla Whitfield-Anderson, “Rep. Jamaal Bowman calls on Biden to take unilateral action on guns: “If it goes to the courts for a fight, so be it’,” Yahoo News!, April 12, 2023.
Oregon Senate Democrats disinvited economist and gun rights advocate John Lott from a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing based on criticism from anti-gun online publications.
Democratic State Sen. Floyd Prozanski “had read something from Media Matters attacking me and said I didn’t have the credentials to be an expert,” Lott told The Epoch Times.
Lott had been invited by Republican State Sen. John Linthicum to testify as an expert witness in an April 6 hearing on SB 348, which would increase the requirements of Ballot Measure 114, approved by voters in November 2022 but is now tied up in the courts.
Linthicum had asked Lott, who has extensive experience studying the effect of gun control laws on society, to explain how SB 348 would impact Oregonians. Lott said that, as he was on his way, he received a call from Linthicum telling him that Prozanski had decided not to allow Lott to testify.
Prozanski then called a witness from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) to testify for the Republicans. Lott said he had never had this happen before.
“Basically, the Democratic committee decided for the Republicans who their experts would be,” Lott said. . . .
Michael Clements, “Economist Disinvited From Committee Hearing by Oregon Senate Democrats,” Epoch Times, April 6, 2023.
In my opinion, John Lott is one of the strongest and most logical voices in the fight for gun owners’ civil rights.
Not surprisingly, the prohibitionists hate him for it, and constantly bad-mouth him. They like to claim his research has been debunked.
It’s a dirty debate trick, not to mention the height of narcissism, to claim that because you disagree with a person you have debunked him or her.
The only way I see the two syllables of that word as relevant to the discussion is this: when I hear someone badmouth John Lott, I want to answer, “Dat’s de bunk, punk.”
I urge you to take twenty minutes to listen to Professor Lott’s own take on it, here:
Massad Ayoob, “WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT JOHN LOTT,” Backwoods Home magazine, April 2, 2023.
Two of the most popular gun control proposals have little to no effect on gun crime and actually exacerbate the problem for the people they’re supposed to protect, according to economist, researcher, and author John Lott.
“Those are the people who are harmed,” Lott told seminar participants at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Indianapolis.
Lott is considered an authority on guns and crime, having authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and 10 books on the subject. He led two seminars discussing the effectiveness of gun-free zones, red-flag laws, and other gun control measures.
He said the story of Nikki Goeser encapsulates the shortcomings of these laws.
Goeser is the author of “Stalked and Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me.” She’s also the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), of which Lott is the president. . . . [More available here]
Tyler Durden, “Gun-Free Zones, Red Flag Laws Only Make Gun Crime Worse: Economist,” Zero Hedge, April 18, 2023.
Gun rights advocate John Lott is saying the opposite of what Cruz said. It was a gun-free zone, so let’s not do anything about gun violence in the U.S. . . .
Conover Kennard, “GOPers Are Coming Up With The Dumbest Reasons To Oppose Gun Safety,” Crooks and Liars, April 12, 2023.
For a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing set for March 27, two Republican members of the committee—Sens. Dennis Linthicum and Kim Thatcher—asked Dr. John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, to serve as their expert witness for the committee hearing.
Surprisingly, after making most of the 10-hour drive from his home in Missoula, Mont., to Salem, Ore., Lott was informed after midnight on the morning of the hearing, while he was still on his way, that Committee Chairman Floyd Prozanski (D) would not allow him to be the Republicans’ expert witness. Instead, Lott would have just two minutes to address the 64-page measure.
Undaunted, Lott drove on to the state capital and made very good use of his two minutes.
“There’s no serious cost-benefit analysis that I’ve seen of this law,” he told the committee members. “My concern is that the net effect is going to actually be harmful to people. If my research convinces me of anything, the people who benefit the most from owning guns are the most vulnerable people in our society. They tend to be the people who are most likely victims of violent crime, and overwhelmingly tend to be poor blacks who live in high-crime areas and people who are relatively weak physically, like women and the elderly.”
Because of that, Lott said, the cost to citizens to become licensed to own and carry a gun would be substantial and prohibitive.
“The cost of the permits here is $150, but that is only going to be part of the cost,” he said. “Looking at other states that have concealed-carry permit training requirements, my guess is the cost will be $200 or more for the training. So, you’re talking about $350 or more to get the permit to own a gun. If you add it with the recent increases in concealed-carry permits that you had last year, you’re talking about nearly $500 for somebody to be able to go and get a gun and carry it.
“Who do you think you’re stopping? You’re not stopping wealthy whites who may live in the suburbs. You’re going to be stopping the very people who need guns the most for protection—poor blacks who live in high-crime urban areas.”
Lott was promptly cut off after two minutes by Prozanski, who then chose to not allow any questioning by committee members. When another person set to testify before the committee asked if he could give Lott his two minutes, the committee chairman curtly refused.
“It’s kind of strange that the Democrats wouldn’t let the Republicans pick who they wanted to have as their ‘expert,’” Lott, who has testified many times before legislative committees, said later in an exclusive interview with America’s 1st Freedom. “They wouldn’t let anybody ask any questions of me, which is something very unusual. I haven’t seen that happen before.”
The shenanigans at the hearing made it quite obvious that the anti-gun lawmakers pushing the anti-gun measure only want one side of the issue to be heard—their side. While the NRA continues to fight the legislation, opponents face an uphill battle. Both the House and Senate are controlled by gun-control proponents, and Gov. Tina Kotek (D) is also a supporter of the measure.
Mark Chesnut, “This State Has Gone Gun-Control Crazy,” America’s 1st Freedom, Apirl 14, 2023.
According to economist, researcher, and author John Lott, two of the most popular gun control proposals have little to no impact on gun crime and exacerbate the problem for the people they are supposed to protect.
“Those are the people who are harmed,” Lott told seminar participants at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Indianapolis.
Lott is considered an authority on guns and crime, having authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and ten books on the subject. He led two seminars discussing the effectiveness of gun-free zones, red-flag laws, and other gun control measures.
He said the story of Nikki Goeser encapsulates the shortcomings of these laws.
Goeser is the author of “Stalked and Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me.” She is also the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, of which Lott is the president. . . .
Michael Clements, “Gun-Free Zones, Red Flag Laws Only Make Gun Crime Worse,” Conservative News Daliy,” April 16, 2023 KELLY MCKINNE,”Gun-Free Zones, Red Flag Laws Only Make Gun Crime Worse,” Denver Daily Chronicle, April 16, 2023..
Recently-updated research on mass shootings by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) appears to explode a major—and evidently erroneous—claim by the gun prohibition lobby to justify their crusade to ban so-called “assault weapons.”
Turns out the majority of mass shootings in public places are committed with handguns, not semi-auto rifles, which have been mis-labeled “weapons of war” by anti-gun activists and Democrat politicians.
According to CPRC research, 56.4 percent of mass shootings involved handguns only, while 14.9 percent involved rifles only. Another 12.8 percent involved shooters armed with both handguns and rifles.
Shotguns were used exclusively in only 3.2 percent of mass shootings, such as the one at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard in 2013. Killers used a combination of handguns and shotguns in 9.6 percent of mass shootings, the data says, and a tiny number—3.2 percent—were armed with all three types of firearms.
Of equal if not greater importance, CPRC research reveals that of all mass shootings from 1950 through March 27 of this year, only 6 percent occurred in places that were not identified as gun-free zones, while 94 percent did happen in “gun-free” zones.
CPRC further refined its data to show that between 1998 and March 27 of this year, 16 percent of mass shootings occurred in areas not identified as “gun-free,” while 84 percent did happen in such restricted zones. This would include the bank in Louisville where five people were killed earlier this week by a suspect who was an employee of the bank
“Importantly,” CPRC founder John Lott noted in a post quoted in a Fox News report, “the bank’s employee handbook makes it clear that carrying a permitted concealed handgun into the bank is a fireable offense. This employee would have known that the employees were banned from having guns. Why isn’t it newsworthy that time after time these mass murderers pick targets where their victims are defenseless?” . . .
Dave Workman, “Updated Research Debunks Major Claim About Semi-Auto Rifles,” Gun Magazine, April 14, 2023.
Dr. John Lott testified before the Delaware State Senate regarding a bill to require permits to own a handgun.
A copy of the bill (SB 2) is available here. The bill requires training requirements and has up to a thirty-days for people to get the permit. If you require training to be completed before you can file for the permit, you effectively mean that people can’t get a permit for 60 or even 90 or more days.
More details on the problems with the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s claims are available here regarding Connecticut and Missouri. A discussion about Maryland is available here.
The fiscal note on the bill estimates that it will cost $10 million in its first year and $9 million each year after that. Of that, $2,275,000 is the estimated cost associated with issuing vouchers for low-income residents for the cost of a training course, assuming an average cost of $175 per course and that approximately 13,000 low-income individuals may qualify for the program under the provisions of this Act. We estimate that this underestimates the cost. First, the course cost is clearly over $175, and we have seen time after time.
“We are not going to run the narrative that more guns equals more safety,” The Missoulian, January 31, 2023.
While we believe that guns on net do make people safer, that isn’t the point of the piece that the Missoulian turned down. What the article said is much narrower. The Biden administration didn’t provide any evidence that pistol stabilizing braces make attacks more lethal or discuss that guns are used defensively. If they aren’t willing to run a piece that says that the administration isn’t providing any evidence to back up their new regulation, does that mean they won’t run pieces that criticize any gun control regulations? The piece was also submitted to the Montana Standard, the Billings Gazette, and the Missoula Current, but none were interested in it. Only the Missoulian explained why they wouldn’t take the piece.
This is the piece that Dr. Lott submitted.
The Biden administration’s newly released regulations regarding “pistol-stabilizing braces” will instantly turn tens of thousands of law-abiding Americans into felons and create a national rifle registry. Worse, the Biden administration and the media exaggerate the costs and ignore the benefits these braces produce for the disabled.
Despite ample warnings that Steven Dettelbach, a controversial gun control advocate, would pursue these policies when confirmed as director of the ATF, he was narrowly confirmed and Montana’s Jon Tester voted for him.
Stabilizing braces for pistols were originally designed to allow wounded and disabled veterans who may have lost the use of part of their hand to hold handguns. They are essentially a strap attached to the gun. Disabled individuals are often viewed as easy targets by criminals, and stabilizers make it easier to defend themselves. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) originally approved pistol braces during the Obama administration.
There are plenty disabled veterans, such as Rick Cicero, who lost his right arm in an explosion in Afghanistan and can still use a gun today because of the pistol-stabilizing brace. But outside of a brief mention in a Fox News story, news articles on the new regulations never mention that these braces help the disabled and make it possible for them to defend themselves.
Obama was hardly a friend of gun ownership, but now the Biden administration has undone the Obama administration’s decision. The ATF now concludes that any foreign-made pistols with stabilizing braces violate the law and are retroactively considered rifles and violate the size requirement for rifles. The ATF leaves only two options: the destruction of the guns or their surrender to ATF.
Putting aside that the ATF isn’t Congress and can’t make up new laws to redefine what a rifle is, their logic is baffling. Take two otherwise identical guns, one with a pistol brace and one that never had a pistol brace: Even if the pistol brace is removed from the gun to which it was attached, it is still banned. Meanwhile, the gun that never had the brace attached could have one added, just as easily as the gun that previously had the pistol brace could have it reattached – but only the gun that once had a pistol brace attached to it is banned.
Of course, how the ATF is supposed to know whether you used to have the pistol brace attached to the gun is a mystery. Nor is it obvious why functionally identical foreign-made pistols should be treated differently than domestically manufactured ones.
This started after President Biden cited a crime in 2021 in Colorado – where a shooter used a pistol stabilizing brace when attacking shoppers in a grocery store – to call for classifying such brace-affixed pistols as machine guns. Ahmed Al Alwi murdered 10 people at close range in a Boulder, Colorado grocery store. A previous shooting in 2019 by Connor Betts, in Dayton, Ohio, also involved a pistol brace. These are the only two such cases and, more importantly, neither of them had any difficulty holding their guns and all their shots were fired at a short distance. There is no evidence the brace made any difference in their ability to carry out the attacks. There has been no surge in crime by the disabled or others using these braces.
Gun control advocates make no attempt to provide evidence that these two attacks were any more lethal with stabilizing braces. The cost will be to the disabled Americans who will now have a harder time being able to defend themselves and their families.
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about a continuation of a pattern when it comes to mass shooters picking their targets—Gun-Free Zones, and there have been no shooting attacks in schools where teachers can legally carry guns.
(Thursday, April 13, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on America’s Voice Live about the latest mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky at Old National Bank.
(Monday, April 10, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at the Washington Times.
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News broke Thursday that prosecutors were dropping involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin over the fatal shooting of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42. New facts are reportedly the reason, but the special prosecutors are leaving open the possibility of refiling the case. The prosecutors note that dropping the charges “does not absolve” Mr. Baldwin of “criminal culpability” in the shooting.
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But the charges against Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer who allegedly said the gun was safe, haven’t been dropped.
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The new evidence is that Baldwin’s gun was fitted with “a new trigger, making it possible for it to misfire.” But even if we ignore that the FBI did three accidental discharge tests of the gun used by Baldwin last year, and the FBI report concluded that it couldn’t be fired “without a pull of the trigger,” it is hard to see how that changes Baldwin guilt of involuntary manslaughter.
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The fact that the armorer probably told Mr. Baldwin that the gun was safe or that the assistant director failed to ensure that was the case is also irrelevant.
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None of this would matter if Mr. Baldwin had followed the first rule of gun safety: You don’t point at gun at something unless you intend to shoot it. Even if you believe the gun is unloaded, you don’t point it directly at others.
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Mr. Baldwin didn’t follow basic gun safety when he shot Hutchins. Anyone who has been to a shooting range would have that drilled into them. And Mr. Baldwin, an actor for 40 years who has appeared in many movies using guns, must indeed have had this explained to him many times.
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Indeed, the Actors Equity Association, the union to which Mr. Baldwin belongs, clearly states the rules for gun use on its website:
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• “Treat all guns as if they are loaded and deadly.”
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• “Never point a firearm at anyone including yourself. Always cheat the shot by aiming to the right or left of the target character.”
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• “Check the firearm every time you take possession of it.”
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• “Live ammunition may not be brought into the theatre.”
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Short of some new understanding of physics, Hutchins could be shot only if Mr. Baldwin pointed his gun directly at her.
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Mr. Baldwin’s repeated claim that he never pulled the trigger is not credible, as an FBI forensic report released in August concluded the firearm couldn’t have gone off unless someone pulled the trigger. But even if it were credible, it would be irrelevant because he violated that first rule of gun safety. If he hadn’t pointed the gun at her, it wouldn’t have mattered if he had pulled the trigger. Mr. Baldwin has made numerous attempts to protect himself from criminal charges by blaming others. For example, even if a staffer had notified Mr. Baldwin that the gun was unloaded, the first rule of gun safety ultimately makes the accident Mr. Baldwin’s responsibility.
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As Matt Hutchins, Halyna’s husband, told NBC’s Hoda Kotb in an interview, “The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd.”
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As the executive producer of “Rust” who was on-site, Mr. Baldwin may also bear responsibility for two prior accidental gun discharges on the set. He was responsible for the crew. He hired Ms. Gutierrez Reed, a young, novice armorer. This decision presumably saved the production some money, but at the risk that something might go wrong.
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There is no doubt Mr. Baldwin is genuinely sorry about this tragedy. Indeed, as news reports indicate, he was undoubtedly “inconsolable,” but that doesn’t help him either. If you drive a car recklessly and kill someone, you are still liable for negligent manslaughter. The fact that you deeply regret the accident is irrelevant. If they had only observed the proper caution to begin with, the death would have been avoidable.
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For involuntary manslaughter, the prosecution has to show that Mr. Baldwin engaged in a lawful but dangerous act and did not act with due caution. A classic example of involuntary manslaughter would be someone shooting a gun into the air while in a crowded place and a stray bullet accidentally killing a person. The person wasn’t even aiming the gun at someone, but they are still responsible. These actions are reckless, negligent and criminal, but they lack intent.
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Mr. Baldwin bears the ultimate responsibility for Hutchins’ death. He handled the gun and pointed it at her. As a result, he should go to prison for years.
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John R. Lott, Jr., “Alec Baldwin’s problems are not over,” Washington Times, April 24, 2023.
Yet another mass murderer who supports gun control. The murderer’s manifesto hasn’t yet been released to the public though the UK Daily Mail has obtained a copy of it.
A 13-page manifesto uncovered by the Daily Mail allegedly disclosed that the 25-year-old shot and killed multiple colleagues in part to prove his belief that guns are too easy to obtain in Kentucky. The shooter also reportedly wanted to draw attention to mental illness, something his parents later disclosed he suffered from and took medicine for, and explicitly expressed a desire to kill himself. . . .
Jordan Boyd, “Louisville Shooter Killed Five To Get Firearms Banned — And Democrats Are Happy To Oblige,” The Federalist, April 21, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Michael Opelka, who was substituting for Joe Bags, about President Joe Biden’s continued gun control push.
The Joe Pags national radio show is heard weekly by 5 million people.
(Wednesday, March 15, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Townhall.com.
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With six murdered at the Covenant School in Nashville at the end of March, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee proposed over $200 million in new measures to protect schools and prevent more such attacks. One of his proposals is to put “an armed security guard in every school in Tennessee.” Both Republican Senators from Tennessee have offered similar legislation in the form of the federal Safe Schools Act.
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Governor Lee understandably wants to do something to prevent this type of violence from ever happening again. But allowing teachers to carry firearms in their classrooms is a much more effective and less costly solution. A bill advanced by a Tennessee state House committee last week would do just that.
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Having an armed ally in a school could stop attacks. but identifiable officers are easily targeted.
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“A deputy in uniform has an extremely difficult job in stopping these attacks,” noted Sarasota County, Florida, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman. “These terrorists have huge strategic advantages in determining the time and place of attacks. They can wait for a deputy to leave the area or pick an undefended location. Even when police or deputies are in the right place at the right time, those in uniform who can be readily identified as guards may as well be holding up neon signs saying, ‘Shoot me first.’ My deputies know that we cannot be everywhere.”
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There’s a good reason air marshals on planes don’t wear uniforms.
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If you have an armed officer in a school, don’t put him in uniform and make him readily identifiable. Give him a staff position in the school so it won’t be obvious that he is the one person with a gun.
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The prospect of armed resistance deterred the Covenant School shooter from choosing another target. “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” said Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
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Unfortunately, no one at the Covenant school had a gun to fight back with.
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These murderers count on gun-free zones to ensure they will be the only armed person. Last year, the Buffalo, NY shooter wrote in his manifesto: “Areas where CCW permits are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack.”
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Unfortunately, national media refuses to report such explicit statements by attackers. Nor do they report that 94% of mass public shootings occur in places where civilians are banned from having guns.
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Violating gun-free school zones in Tennessee means a six-year prison term. While that is a severe penalty for law-abiding citizens, an additional six years for someone such as the Covenant school mass murderer is irrelevant, even if they had lived. The murderer would already be facing six life sentences or the death penalty.
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Twenty states already allow teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns. Any teacher with a concealed handgun permit can carry in Utah and New Hampshire. In other states, school boards or superintendents decide the policy.
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In the thousands of schools where teachers are permitted to carry, no one has been wounded or killed in an attack during school hours. Only at schools where guns are banned have people been hurt or killed in school shootings.
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Other common concerns about allowing teachers to carry guns — such as students getting a hold of the weapons or teachers losing their tempers — have never actually occurred.
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Surveys show that criminologists and economists strongly support abolishing gun-free zones in places such as schools.
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President Biden is right that we shouldn’t impose security measures which make schools resemble prisons. There is another alternative. Instead of posting gun-free zone signs in front of schools, let’s post signs which warn attackers that there are teachers with concealed handguns.
Dr. John Lott appeared on WHO Radio’s The Simon Conway Show to discuss his latest piece with Thomas Massie at Newsweek titled “There Is No Firm, Sustained Support for Gun Control.”
(Friday, March 10, 2023, from 4:36 to 4:45 PM CDT)
Dr. John Lott talked to Vince Coglianese on WMAL about DC’s crime problem and Joe Biden’s attempt to disarm law-abiding citizens. Related material is available from the Washington Times and Real Clear Politics.
(Wednesday, March 29, 2023)
You will search in vain for civilians successfully using guns in self-defense in entertainment television shows over the last two decades. When civilians use guns defensively, something always goes wrong. Either they die using the gun, accidentally shoot the wrong person, or they get in the way of police trying to do their job. We regularly collect those cases, so when a television show finally shows a successful defensive gun use, we want to acknowledge it.
The only recent exceptions to that bias have been two episodes on Paramount’s Yellowstone (Season 4, Episode 8, Dec 19, 2021 and Season 4, Episode 1, November 7, 2021). Now, amazingly, NBC’s Magnum PI shows a man using a shotgun to protect himself against armed burglars who broke into his home (Season 5, Episode 7, March 26, 2023). When one burglar pulled a handgun to shoot the home owner, the homeowner fired his gun killing the criminal. It was a clear case of self-defense. We have tried multiple times to post this video, but for some reason YouTube is deleting that part of the video where the criminal pulls his gun and the homeowner shoots him in self-defense. Nothing gruesome was shown.
Other related posts are available here.
Magnum PI (Season 5, Episode 7, March 26, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.
In a very usual move, the Biden Administration is holding onto the manifesto of the Nashville Christian school mass murderer. Many are questioning whether they are refusing to do that because the murderer is a Trans person and their decision is political. That they don’t want it released to protect trans activists.
Federal officials are delaying releasing of a manifesto written by Audrey Hale, who killed six people in a Nashville Christian school, according to local officials, with one calling it “astronomically dangerous.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told the New York Post this week that the FBI is currently behind the delay. He said that the documents should be made public for grieving family members and for members of Congress.
Hale, who was born female, used “he/him” pronouns, and police officials previously told a news conference she identified as transgender. Later, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Hale suffered from mental health issues and was under the care of a doctor, while her parents did not know she had procured several firearms.
The shooter’s notes “could maybe tell us a little bit about what’s going on inside of her head,” Burchett told the newspaper. “I think that would answer a lot of questions.”
About 20 journals, five laptops, a suicide note, and other materials written by Hale were taken from the house where she lived with her parents, according to a search warrant in the case. . . .
Jack Phillips, “Nashville Official Says School Shooter’s Manifesto Is ‘Astronomically Dangerous’,” Epoch Times, April 21, 2023.
Dr. John Lott testified five times before the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety on multiple bills, from raising the age to 21, universal background checks, waiting periods, and paperwork requirements for gun dealers. The testimony on these various bill began on the evening of Tuesday, April 18th and continued on until about 4 AM on Wednesday, April 19th.
Dr. Lott’s testimony on HB 2744 relating to raising the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles to 21. His testimony on this bill produced a lively discussion. This testimony occurred shortly after midnight on April 19th.
Dr. Lott’s testimony on HB 236 relating to background checks on the private transfer of guns. He discusses the discriminatory impact of these laws. This testimony occurred after midnight on April 19th.
Dr. Lott’s testimony on HB 298 relating to a required waiting period for firearm sales. He discusses how these laws harm people. He explains how combining HB 236 and HB 298 would impact people threatened with crime. This testimony occurred shortly before 4 AM on April 19th.Lott was the last person to testify on the last bill.
Dr. Lott’s testimony on HB 106 relating to the required reporting of multiple sales of certain firearms to law enforcement. Lott also briefly testified on HB 22, which was virtually the same as HB 106.
Dr. Lott’s testimony on HB 22 relating to the required reporting of multiple sales of certain firearms to law enforcement. HB 22 is virtually the same as HB 106, and his testimony for HB 22 merely referenced that earlier testimony on HB 106.
(Tuesday and Wednesday, April 18th and 19th, 2023 and ended at about 4 AM)
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about Biden judicial nominee not knowing a criminal law doctrine known as a Brady motion, and Dr. Lott’s book “Dumbing Down the Courts.”
(Wednesday, March 22, 2023)
Vicki’s show covers most of Wisconsin and part of the Minneapolis area in Minnesota (WISN, WIBA, WMEQ).
This is a dramatic story that could have turned out quite differently if she wasn’t armed.
. . . The Levy County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 3 p.m. Easter of a person shot at a duplex in the town of Bronson, authorities said. Officials arrived at the scene and found James Young, Jr., 40, dead on the floor inside the apartment.
Investigators say Young had “a prior domestic relationship” with the unidentified woman living in the home, and traveled to the duplex armed with a gun to “confront” the woman.
The suspect and woman began to “struggle” after Young arrived, according to the sheriff’s office, but the woman was able to retrieve her own firearm.
The woman was able to fire off one shot that struck Young on the chest and killed him. The woman fled to a neighbor’s home for assistance following the incident. . . .
Emma Colton, “Florida woman turns tables on armed ex who showed up to apartment, kills him with one shot,” Fox News, April 16, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about the Covenant School Shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. They discussed the danger of gun-free zones and that the Nashville school shooter aborted plans to target other locations in the area after seeing “too much security.”
(Sunday, April 2, 2023, from 9:33 to 9:56 PM)
With Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signing the state’s Constitutional Carry bill into law this coming Tuesday, twenty-seven states will have Constitutional Carry laws, representing 65% of the land in the country and 44% of the population in 2022. If South Carolina passes Constitutional Carry, 67% of the land in the country and 45% of the population will be covered.
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This represents an important milestone. The Supreme Court often looks at how rights or practices are embedded into society in constitutional reviews.
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Nebraska’s permitless concealed carry bill will be heading to Gov. Jim Pillen’s desk.
On Wednesday, state senators voted 33-14 to pass Legislative Bill 77, which would allow Nebraskans to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.
State Sen. Tom Brewer, who introduced the bill, says the measure guarantees the right to bear arms in Nebraska.
“What we do in this body sometimes is trying to follow through with the will of the people and give them the rights that they have in the Constitution,” Brewer said. “And sometimes we go out of the way and twist those rights and keep people from having them, and I think (the concealed carry permit) is a case of that.” . . .
Nolan Dorn, “Nebraska Legislature passes permitless concealed carry bill,” KLKN TV (Lincoln, Nebraska), April 19, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Erika Redic about whether gun control laws make us safer.
Join me for a conversation with Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center. We’ll discuss crime trends and the sustained attempt by state Legislatures and Congress to remove your Right to self-protection. Why would that be, and what do governments actually gain when they disarm the population – Are we safer for it? Dr. Lott will tell us the truth.
Summary from Erika Redic’s post
March 25, 2023
This is a dramatic move.
Ecuador has authorized the carrying and use of guns by civilians, President Guillermo Lasso said in a televised broadcast, citing rising crime and insecurity in the Andean country.
Lasso, a conservative former banker, has been fighting to tackle rising crime and violence in the streets and in prisons – where hundreds of inmates have been killed – which the government blames on drug trafficking gangs. . . .
“We’ve modified the decree that allows the possession and carrying of guns. In other words, in general terms … the possession and carrying of guns for civilian use in personal defense is authorized, in accordance with the requirements of law and regulations,” he said. . . .
The president also declared a state of emergency in the Pacific port city of Guayaquil and the neighboring towns of Duran and Samborondon, as well as the provinces of Santa Elena and Los Rios. . . .
Staff, “Ecuador’s Lasso authorizes civilian use of guns, citing insecurity,” Reuters, Apirl 2, 2023.
Dr. John Lott is to testify in Texas today. Lots of gun laws are being considered, from raising the age to 21, universal background checks, waiting periods, and paperwork requirements for gun dealers.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s S.W.A.T. TV show is no different (Season 6, Episode 16, March 10, 2023). This episode shows assassins using a machine gun against police.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type, and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6, Episode 16, March 10, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1, Episode 13, February 21, 2023.
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023, Episode 15, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14): Episode 10, January 9, 2023, Episode 11, January 15, 2023..
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6): Episode 16, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s True Lies (Season 1): Episode 4, March 22, 2023.
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,.
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 10): Episode 1, February 26, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about the Old National Bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, and a continuation of a pattern when it comes to mass shooters picking their targets—Gun-Free Zones.
(Tuesday, April 11, 2023)
Vicki’s show covers most of Wisconsin and part of the Minneapolis area in Minnesota (WISN, WIBA, WMEQ).
Dr. John Lott gave a presentation on gun control myths at the NRA convention in Indianapolis. It started with this video, then here is the audio of the rest of my talk, and the final video that he showed. His PowerPoint is also provided.
NRA-Convention-2023-Gun-Myths-With-CutsDownloadThis the video at the end of the talk.
Yet another example of how a relatively small number of criminals account for a large percentage of crimes. For professional shoplifters, one might imagine that they are arrested at a lower rate per offense than others who are not as experienced.
Nearly a third of all shoplifting arrests in New York City last year involved just 327 people, the police said. Collectively, they were arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. Some engage in shoplifting as a trade, while others are driven by addiction or mental illness; the police did not identify the 327 people in the analysis. . . .
Staff, “A Tiny Number of Shoplifters Commit Thousands of New York City Thefts,” DNYUZ, April 15, 2023.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s show Blue Bloods is no different (Season 13, Episode 10, January 13, 2023). This episode shows a machine gun being used in a jewelry store robbery.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 13, Episode 10, January 13, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1, Episode 13, February 21, 2023.
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023, Episode 15, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14): Episode 10, January 9, 2023, Episode 11, January 15, 2023..
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 4): Episode 1, September 20, 2022; Episode 15, March 14, 2023.
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6): Episode 13, February 10, 2023; Episode 16, March 10, 2023.
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,.
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 10): Episode 1, February 26, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
Dr. John Lott appeared on Stacy on the Right, a nationwide radio show in Wisconsin, to discuss the Nashville School Shooting, the problems with statistics on Mass Public Shootings, and the danger of Gun-Free Zones.
(Tuesday, March 28, 2023, from 9:20 to 9:43 PM)
Dr. John Lott appeared on NewsMax’s Chris Salcedo Show to discuss the Nashville Christian school shooting and the danger of gun-free zones.
(Tuesday, March 28, 2023, from 4:17 to 4:23 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, told Newsmax Tuesday that gun-free zones are “magnets” for gun crime because the criminals know that people are unarmed and cannot defend themselves.
“The people that these laws stop are law-abiding citizens and the killers take advantage of that,” Lott said during an appearance on Newsmax’s “The Chris Salcedo Show.” “The fact that they know that law-abiding citizens will obey these laws and that these gun-free zones mean nobody can protect themselves in those areas actually encourage the attacks to occur — it’s a magnet for those attacks.”
“Would you want to put a sign in front of your home that says your home is a gun-free zone if you were being threatened?” he continued. “I don’t think anybody would go and do that. It’s not like the criminal would go and say, ‘Well, he doesn’t have any guns there, they’re not allowed. I can’t go in and do the attack.’ It actually causes them to want to attack there.”
Commenting on the Nashville, Tennessee attack on a private Christian school by a former student that left three children and three adults dead on Monday, Lott said that “media bias has helped contribute to this problem.”
“One of the things that the media just refuses to report on are the parts of the diaries and manifestos where these mass murders explain why they picked the targets that they do,” he explained. “I mean, look at the Buffalo grocery store mass murderer last year. He had a long discussion in his manifesto about why he picked the place that he did. He wanted to go to a place where he said victims would not have permitted concealed handguns to defend themselves because, he said, that would make it much more difficult for him to go and kill people. He’s not the only one. They say that time after time.”
“What you need is armed teachers,” he said. “We have 20 states in this country, including parts of Texas, which have armed teachers. We have thousands of schools, yet there’s not been one single attack where anybody has been killed or wounded in any school that has an armed teacher there. All the attacks have occurred in places where guns are banned.”
Nashville Police Chief John Drake identified the suspectin The Covenant School attack as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, and said that she identified as male. While there was no immediate official word on a possible motive, Drake told NBC News, “There’s some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school. Don’t have all the details to that just yet.”
Nicole Wells, “Lott to Newsmax: Gun-Free Zones Are ‘Magnets’ for Attacks,” NEWSMAX, March 28, 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on 700 WLW’s The Bill Cunningham Show to discuss the recent mass public shootings and a continuation of a pattern for mass shooters picking their targets—Gun-Free Zones.
(Tuesday, April 11, 2023, from 1:05 to 1:22 PM EDT)
Dr. John Lott debated Allen Louis Linton II, Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at ACM, and Larry Barton, Professor of Crisis Management and Public Safety at UCF, on Turkish TRT World’s The Newsmakers about gun control reform in the US.
(Monday, April 3, 2023)
Dr. John Lott joined Rich Zeoli on Philadelphia’s WPHT to discuss the Old National Bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky. They also discussed the assault weapons ban and the danger of gun-free zones.
(Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 4:35 to 4:52 PM ET)
Because the hearing date was changed at the last minute, Dr. John Lott provided testimony telephonically during the Joint Meeting of the Nevada State Assembly Committee on Judiciary and Senate Committee on Judiciary opposing AB355. He was only allowed to speak for one minute, and, just like in Oregon, none of the legislators were allowed to ask him questions.
(Thursday, April 6, 2023)
Finally, some news coverage on gun-free zones. The question we have continually been asking: “Why isn’t it newsworthy that time after time these mass murderers pick targets where their victims are defenseless?”
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The tragic shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, that left five people dead and eight others injured appears to be another instance of a shooting tragedy unfolding at a gun-free zone, a recent report found.
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Police in Louisville began receiving calls at 8:38 a.m. Monday of shots fired at an Old National Bank location in the city, just minutes before the bank was set to open at 9 a.m. Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said that officers “unflinchingly” engaged with the shooter and prevented further loss of life.
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The Crime Prevention Research Center reviewed the national bank’s team-member handbook, which outlined various rules employees must follow or risk disciplinary action or even termination. Among the list of rules, employees must act in a professional and honest capacity at work, they are also prevented from taking firearms into a bank premises.
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“Possession of dangerous or unauthorized materials, such as explosives, firearms, or any type of weapons inside the workplace or on company premises. In some states, there are additional laws about this subject,” the handbook, which was also reviewed by Fox News Digital, states under a list of “examples of some of the infractions or conduct that may result in disciplinary action.”
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A spokesperson for the bank told Fox, when approached for comment on the handbook and gun-free zones, that the company is currently not commenting “on team members or company documentation in the wake of this incident.” Kentucky is a permitless carry state but still prohibits firearms in certain locations, such as police stations and government buildings.
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Shooter Connor Sturgeon was a 25-year-old employee of the bank who carried out the attack with a rifle, according to investigators.
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“Importantly, the bank’s employee handbook makes it clear that carrying a permitted concealed handgun into the bank is a fireable offense. This employee would have known that the employees were banned from having guns,” the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) wrote in a post Tuesday. “Why isn’t it newsworthy that time after time these mass murderers pick targets where their victims are defenseless?”
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CPRC founder and President John Lott has repeatedly spoken out about how gun-free zones could serve as magnets for murderers who want to cause as much bloodshed as possible.
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“The media just refuses to cover that these killers purposefully pick targets where they know victims can’t defend themselves. The media also continually ignores that these murderers explicitly explain why they pick these targets,” Lott told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
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“These mass murderers may be crazy, but they aren’t stupid. Their goal is to get media coverage, and they know the more people they kill, the more coverage they will get, so they go to places where they know victims can’t defend themselves,” he added.
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Just last month, a shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, left three students and three employees at the school dead. The shooter, Audrey Hale, allegedly “looked at” two other schools but did not carry out the attack at those schools because “the security was too great to do what she wanted to do,” Nashville City Council member Robert Swope told the New York Post last month.
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Emma Colton, “Louisville bank shooting appears to be another instance of tragedy striking in gun-free zone,” Fox News, April 11, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Joe Piscopo on his radio show in New York City about the shooting at a Washington D.C. funeral home, the Louisville bank shooting, and why there have been no school shootings where teachers are allowed to carry guns.
(Wednesday, April 12, 2023, from 7:31 to 7:43 AM)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about the Nashville school shooting. They also discussed that good guys’ guns save lives more often than reported, and FBI Active Shooting reports missing cases where civilians stop attacks.
(Tuesday, March 28, 2023, from 11:06 to 11:29 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Ann Coulter about the Nashville Covenant mass murder, media bias, and the difficulty one police officer has stopping mass public shootings.
(April 7, 2023)
Dr. John Lott appeared on NewsMax’s Wake Up America Weekend with Cam Edwards to discuss the Nashville School Shooting and the 2nd Amendment Debate.
(NewsMax’s Wake Up America Weekend, Sunday, April 2, 2023, from 7:46 to 7:53 AM ET)
The attack by a former employee at the Old National Bank in Louisville occurred at 8:38 AM on April 10th, 2023. Bank hours are between 9 AM and 5 PM, so only employees were present, though the bank apparently also bans customers from carrying permitted concealed handguns. Importantly, the bank’s employee handbook makes it clear that carrying a permitted concealed handgun into the bank is a fireable offense. This employee would have known that the employees were banned from having guns. Why isn’t this newsworthy? Why isn’t it newsworthy that time after time these mass murderers pick targets where their victims are defenseless?
Why wasn’t it newsworthy that the Covenant school murderer passed up another target they viewed as having “too much security”?
“It was the only school that was targeted. There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” Drake said. “That area was here in Nashville, so we’re continuing with that investigation as well.”
Lydia Fielder and Tony Garcia, “Nashville school shooter purchased 7 guns, planned attack on multiple locations, police say,” WSMV, March 27, 2023.
Dr. John Lott and Thomas Massie have a new op-ed at the Washington Times. The piece was the “most popular piece on the Washington Times website.
Earlier this month, cameras filmed Rep. Jamaal Bowman, New York Democrat, yelling in the halls of Congress that “Republicans won’t do s—- when it comes to gun violence.” It’s a common refrain from gun control advocates.
“Force [Republicans] to respond!’ Mr. Bowman shouted. “Why the hell won’t they do anything to save America’s children? And let them explain that all the way up to Election Day on 2024.”
That was when one of us, Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, happened to walk by and pointed out, “Did you know there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry?”
“Carry guns?!” Mr. Bowman shouted back at the top of his lungs. “More guns lead to more death!”
When Mr. Massie tried to respond, Mr. Bowman continued shouting so loudly that Mr. Massie could not be heard. Mr. Massie reminded Mr. Bowman that, at that very moment, both of them were being protected by guns in the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Bowman, seemingly forgetting his request from just a minute earlier for Republicans to explain, even physically pushed between Mr. Massie and the cameras to prevent Mr. Massie from being heard.
What facts are Mr. Bowman so scared of? Why is it so upsetting for him to learn there have been no shooting attacks in schools where teachers can legally carry?
That statistic comes from the other author of this piece, John Lott. According to Michael Bloomberg’s gun violence news website, The Trace, Mr. Lott is a “major factor” behind why the U.S. hasn’t passed stronger gun control laws — an assertion that suggests the policies Mr. Lott supports caused mass public shootings.
Here’s the reality: Guns in the hands of teachers and other responsible citizens can prevent mass shootings.
On March 27, a mass murderer once again attacked a place where guns were already banned. Six were killed at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
As with many other mass public shootings, people with guns actually deterred the school shooter from attacking another potential location. In the words of Nashville Police Chief John Drake: “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to.” It was soon revealed that she had passed up two different targets because “the security was too great to do what she wanted to do.”
Many other shooters have expressed similar fears of armed pushback. Last year, the shooter in Buffalo, New York, wrote: “Areas where CCW permits are low may also be good areas of attack.”
Most national media outlets refuse to report on that and also ignore similar explicit statements by other attackers. They also fail to report that 94% of mass public shootings occur in places where civilians are banned from having guns.
Twenty states already allow teachers to carry concealed handguns. In Utah and New Hampshire, any teacher with a concealed handgun permit can carry. In other states, it is up to school boards or superintendents to decide. And there have been no mass shootings under that policy.
Last week, Mr. Massie reintroduced the Safe Students Act to repeal the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act. The national default should not be to advertise our children as sitting ducks.
Naturally, everyone wants to do something to prevent this type of violence, but many of the proposals being talked about would do nothing to stop these attacks.
For example, within hours of the shooting at The Covenant School, President Biden called for an assault weapons ban. But even The Associated Press’ Stylebook recognizes that the term “assault weapon” conveys “little meaning” and is “highly politicized.” It’s nonsensical to ban guns just because they look like military weapons when they function exactly like semi-automatic hunting rifles.
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which was in place from 1994 to 2004, didn’t reduce the rate of mass public shootings that involved prohibited weapons.
Another favorite proposal from gun control advocates is background checks on the private transfer of guns. But that wouldn’t have stopped the school shooting in Nashville. In fact, there is not one mass public shooting this century that such laws would have stopped, even if they were in place and perfectly enforced.
Meanwhile, many Republicans are backing the federal Safe Schools Act, which is different from Mr. Massie’s bill and which would fund armed school safety officers. Having an armed ally in a school could indeed stop some attacks, but the drawback is that readily identifiable officers are an easy target for mass shooters.
Mr. Biden is right that schools shouldn’t be like prisons and lockdown drills are a sad reality today. But there is another alternative. Instead of posting gun-free zone signs in front of schools, let’s post signs warning attackers that there are staff members with concealed handguns.
• John Lott is the president of Crime Prevention Research Center. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie represents Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District and is the co-chair of the Second Amendment Caucus.
John R. Lott, Jr. and Thomas Massie, “There have been no shooting attacks in schools where teachers can legally carry guns,” Washington Times, April 10, 2023.
Dr. John Lott Jr. appeared on The Chuck And Julie Show to discuss the Nashville school shooting and our research that proves hardening targets like schools prevent violence.
(Wednesday, March 29, 2023)
Dr. John Lott Jr. appeared on Rich Valdés America At Night to discuss the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, and media bias on mass public shooters’ political views.
(Tuesday, March 28, 2023, from 11:30 to 11:45 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about the indictment of Donald Trump from a Manhattan grand jury.
(Thursday, April 6, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about the latest Nashville School Shooting and the danger of gun-free zones. In fact, the Nashville school shooter aborted plans to other targets in the area due to “too much security.”
(Friday, March 31, 2023)
As if it isn’t enough that entertainment TV shows consistently show the myths that gun control advocates that defensive gun uses always fail, that AR-15s are machine guns, that American criminals are always using machine guns, and much more. But TV shows constantly demonize gun makers and sellers in other ways. Unfortunately, CBS’s The Company You Keep paints gun makers as part of the “evil empire” that bribes politicians to pass the legislation they want (Season 1, Episode 4, March 19, 2023).
Dr. John Lott talked to Betsy Smith, a retired police sergeant with the National Police Association, about gun control and what caused the recent increased in crime.
March 25, 2023
Dr. John Lott talked to John Steigerwald on Pittsburgh’s WPGP AM 1250 about the Nashville elementary school shooting. They also discussed that gun-free zones are magnets for attacks as the criminals know that people are unarmed and cannot defend themselves.
(Thursday, March 30, 2023, from 5:10 to 5:27 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to fill-in host Bob Frantz on America First with Sebastian Gorka about Discover’s recent announcement to allow its network to track purchases at gun retailers starting in April.
(Friday, March 3, 2023)
Dr. John Lott recently went to Oregon to testify before their state Senate about SB 348, which would amend Measure 114, which barely passed this past November. The Democrats wouldn’t allow Lott to testify in the invited session, despite Lott being the only expert witness that the Republicans invited to testify. When Lott was finally allowed to testify for two minutes later that evening during public testimony, the Republicans were not allowed to ask him any questions and others were not allowed to let Lott use their time.
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A crime and gun expert was denied a chance to testify during an Oregon Senate hearing on gun control, and a Republican called it a “prime example of censorship.”
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Emails obtained by Fox News Digital show the chair of the Oregon state Senate Judiciary Committee forbade John Lott, an economist and founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, from speaking at a hearing last week on a Democratic-backed gun bill.
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“After reviewing the following articles, I do not feel comfortable having Mr. Lott as part of the invited testimony during the informational hearing on SB 348,” Democratic state Sen. Floyd Prozanski, chair of the Oregon state Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote in an email to Republican state Sen. Dennis Linthicum. Prozanski cited articles from Media Matters and The Trace as reasons why Lott was denied.
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Oregon voters narrowly passed a ballot measure last year, Measure 114, that banned ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and required the creation of a permit-to-purchase program. Measure 114 was subsequently targeted by lawsuits from Second Amendment groups, including the NRA, and is still tied up in court.
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Now, state Democrats have introduced S.B. 348, which amends portions of Measure 114 but would actually essentially replace it. If passed, the bill would also ban magazines with a capacity of greater than 10 rounds of ammo, require residents to take mandatory training, maintain a state registry of gun owners and require residents pay fees to get a permit.
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The Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee held a recent hearing regarding the new bill, and Republicans invited Lott to appear and offer insight on the legislation. Instead of accepting Lott to present testimony during the invited portion of the public meeting, Prozanski told Linthicum Lott could present comments during the public portion of the meeting.
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Linthicum told Fox News Digital the decision wasn’t surprising, calling it “the typical outgrowth flourishing within Oregon’s long-standing, one-party Democrat majority rule.”
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“It is a prime example of censorship based upon invalid or extremely biased accusations instead of the rightful analysis of the logic, observational data and analysis that Dr. Lott can provide,” the Oregon Republican said.
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Linthicum pointed to how, over just the last six weeks, Lott “testified before the Colorado state Senate, the Vermont state Senate, the Maryland state Senate, the Tennessee state Senate and the Michigan state House and Senate.” In December, Lott testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
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Lott has a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA and has held teaching positions at esteemed universities like the University of Chicago, Yale, Stanford and Wharton. He previously served as the chief economist for the United States Sentencing Commission and as a senior adviser for research and statistics at the DOJ.
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“Dr. Lott is a credible source,” Linthicum said.
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Lott said he doesn’t operate as a lobbyist and only testifies when invited by legislators on a committee.
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An official with Prozanski’s office denied Lott was blocked from testifying, noting he was offered the chance to speak during the public portion of the hearing.
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“As Floyd informed Sen Linthicum, Dr. Lott will be given opportunity to testify during the public hearing,” Prozanski’s office said. The office did not respond to a follow-up question regarding how Lott was specifically denied presenting testimony during the invited portion of the hearing.
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When Fox News Digital spoke to Lott about the situation, Lott asked, “What are they afraid of?”
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“Are they afraid that people are going to point out that this law is racist and sexist and going to actually put people’s lives in jeopardy?” Lott said.
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Lott said he would have cautioned that the bill will likely face court challenges if passed and will also pile costs on Americans trying to get permits in the state, ultimately hurting those trying to protect themselves.
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Under S.B. 348, law enforcement in the state would have 60 days to approve or deny a permit, which is double the amount of time police have under Measure 114. Lott said that this extended period of time will mean citizens may have to wait “90 days, 120” until they can actually arm themselves.
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He said if “you’re a woman who’s being stalked or threatened, you may not have 90 or 100 days, even 60 days, to be able to go and get a gun to be able to go and protect yourself.”
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The bill would also require those seeking to own a gun to pay fees that are even more expensive than the ones in Measure 114. People would have to pay $150 for new permits and $110 for renewals, in addition to training fees.
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Lott said such laws hurt poor Americans living in high-crime areas most, while wealthy residents aren’t as affected by such fees.
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“The people who are most likely victims of violent crime — and that’s overwhelmingly poor Blacks who live in high crime urban areas — benefit the most from being able to go protect themselves,” Lott said.
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“This bill basically makes it so that only wealthy Whites who live in the suburbs are going to be the ones who are going to be able to get a concealed carry permit and carry,” Lott said. “Which I’m glad they can protect themselves, but they’re not the ones who are most at risk.”
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Lott blasted Democrats, saying they work to silence those with differing viewpoints beyond just Second Amendment issues.
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“They don’t want to have an open debate,” Lott said.
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Lott ultimately presented during the public testimony portion of the hearing, but time was “very limited,” and even when members of the public offered to yield their allotted two minutes to Lott, the ranking Democrat shut the requests down, Lott said.
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“Even worse, the Democrat chair wouldn’t allow the Republican senators to ask me questions,” Lott said, despite indications from Republicans that they had questions for him.
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Emma Colton, “Oregon Dems silence crime expert as they push gun control bill: ‘What are they afraid of?’,” Fox News, Apirl 6, 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss the latest Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. They also discussed the danger of gun-free zones and the fact that the shooter aborted plans to target another school in the area as it had “too much security.”
(Wednesday, March 29, 2023, from 5:31 to 5:40 PM EST)
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
Dr. John Lott appeared on Wyoming’s KGAB to discuss Biden’s new executive actions on gun control and our new research about people’s true views on universal background checks. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics titled “Despite California’s Mass Shootings, Biden Wants To Emulate Its Gun Laws.”
(Friday, March 17, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about his new piece at Real Clear Politics about Biden’s new executive order on guns. The gun control Biden pushes won’t stop mass public shootings but will only worsen problems.
(Sunday, March 19, 2023, from 8:33 to 8:56 PM)
UPDATE: The Associated Press has an article claiming that our claim that this attack didn’t occur in a gun-free zone. (We appreciate the AP updating their article and adding a note in their original article to point to our response.) In emails, the AP article’s author pointed to an article by Politifact. Politifact pointed to a statement by a spokesperson for the Umpqua Community College that said it wasn’t a gun-free zone and that people with concealed handgun permits were allowed to carry. They also point to one person who carried a permitted concealed handgun on another part of the campus at the time of the attack. We have three points of response based on our original post shown below.
— Below, we have a link to a primary source from the rules that existed at Umpqua Community College. The website is clear and offers no exceptions for concealed handgun permits.
— Students can’t call up the spokesperson (or the two university presidents, we quote). Instead, they will look at the website for information on whether they can carry.
— Yes, one student did carry a permitted concealed handgun in a different part of campus, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have had more if you had posted people were allowed to carry.
ORIGINALLY POSTED October 1, 2015: With at least 10 dead and 20 injured near Roseburg, Oregon on October 1, 2015, we have had yet another mass public shooting in a gun-free zone.
The original document can be found here. The campus did have three security officers, but they were also disarmed. Of course, uniformed security officers have limited usefulness in stopping these attacks because people in uniforms are easy targets.
For those questioning whether the community college is a gun-free zone, The Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene, Oregon has this statement from the Interim community college President Rita Calvin:
Interim community college President Rita Calvin said security officers are on campus around the clock, but are not armed. The campus is a gun-free zone. . . .
Here is another statement from the recent past president of the college.
But Joe Olson, the former president of Umpqua, said he decided to keep the campus gun-free last year after a campus-wide debate. . . .
Clearly schools prevent teachers/professors from carrying a gun on campus. The clear case here is: Court of Appeals of Oregon.Jane DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MEDFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT 549C, Defendant-Respondent.073765E2; A137804. Decided: November 18, 2009.
In our view, the school district’s internal employment policy does not represent the sort of exercise of the “authority to regulate” firearms that the statute preempts. Because, as we have noted, the trial court erred in dismissing the declaratory judgment action rather than issuing a judgment containing a declaration as to the matter in dispute, we must vacate the judgment and remand for entry of a judgment declaring that the school district’s policy is not preempted by ORS 166.170. . . .
Employment policy thus seems clear. The issue of whether schools can ban students from carrying guns in their student handbooks as a condition of enrollment hasn’t been decided, but it seems likely that Oregon courts would make a decision is similar to their decision on employment.
In another more recent case another Oregon state Appeals Court decision there was a challenge to Western Oregon University’s administrative rule. In that case, the court ruled that the school did not have the authority to make such an administrative rule, but administrative rules are different from employment or enrollment policy in student or faculty handbooks. OREGON FIREARMS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION, an Oregon nonprofit corporation, Petitioner, v. BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION and Oregon University System, Respondents.A142974. Decided: September 28, 2011.
In this administrative rule challenge, ORS 183.400(1), petitioner Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation seeks the invalidation of an administrative rule of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education and the Oregon University System (respondents) that imposes sanctions on persons who possess or use firearms on university property. Petitioner contends that the rule exceeds respondents’ statutory authority, that it is preempted by ORS 166.170, and that it violates the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. We conclude that the rule is preempted and therefore do not address whether it also violates the Second Amendment. Accordingly, we conclude that the rule is invalid. . . .
If guns are banned through statements in student and faculty handbooks, only non-student and non-faculty members can clearly carry on schools/colleges campuses, but then there is the issue of whether schools/colleges can ban guns in buildings, and it appears that the Oregon state Appeals Court has said that schools/colleges can indeed ban guns there.
That exception, petitioner contends, demonstrates the legislature’s intention to expressly authorize persons with concealed handgun permits to carry firearms in public buildings, including buildings on state college and university campuses. We reject the contention that a statutory exception to criminal sanctions for the possession of a handgun in public buildings indicates an intention to require public educational institutions to permit concealed handguns. . . .
The bottom line is that guns were clearly banned by everyone where the attack occurred in the classroom at Umpqua Community College. Even if guns were somehow allowed to be carried on campus, the perception of people created by the student and faculty handbooks is that they weren’t allowed. The policy undoubtedly reduced the number of people carrying and lowered the risk that the killer would run into someone who could quickly stop him. At least one person apparently ignored the rules there at the school, but, unfortunately, he was not in the part of the school where the attack occurred. By suppressing the number of permit holders, the school made it easier for the killer to commit his attack successfully.
The White House amazingly immediately called for more gun control after the attack. From The Hill newspaper:
Passing tougher laws to help prevent gun violence remains a high priority for President Obama, the White House said Thursday after reports of a mass shooting resulting in multiple casualties.“The issue of sensible steps that can be taken to protect our communities from gun violence continues to be a top priority of this administration,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. . . . .
Meanwhile, the much-vaunted expanded background check law was enacted on August 9th, 2015, almost two months ago. From NBC News:
A law that went into effect on Aug. 9 requires background checks for transactions made between individuals and online. Previously, checks were mandatory only for people seeking to buy a gun from a federally licensed dealer — at a gun store or gun show.
It is not clear where or when the shooter in Thursday’s attack obtained his weapon nor whether the new law would have had any impact.
Gun-control advocates said the new measure would prevent criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns. . . .
Dr. John Lott talked to Alaska’s Michael Dukes about Universal Background Checks, Red Flag Laws, Biden’s gun control push, and how surveys on gun control issues are misleading.
March 17, 2023
Dr. John Lott Jr. appeared on Stinchfield Tonight on Real America’s Voice to discuss the Nashville school shooting and Democrats’ attempt to disarm law-abiding citizens.
(Wednesday, March 29, 2023)
With Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing the state’s Constitutional Carry bill into law today, twenty-six states now have Constitutional Carry laws, representing 64% of the land in the country and 43% of the population in 2022. If Nebraska and South Carolina pass Constitutional Carry, 67% of the land in the country and 45% of the population will be covered.
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This represents an important milestone. The Supreme Court often looks at how rights or practices are embedded into society in constitutional reviews.
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The U.S. now has a majority of states with constitutional carry laws on the books after Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Monday that eliminates the requirement for an individual to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm. . . .
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The Florida Senate voted 27 to 13 last week on the constitutional carry bill, sending the legislation to DeSantis, who signed it into law on Monday morning. There were already 25 states that had permitless or “constitutional carry” laws on the books, meaning Florida tipped the U.S. into becoming a constitutional carry-majority nation. . . .
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Emma Colton, “DeSantis’ signature tips US into majority ‘constitutional carry’ nation with new Florida gun rights law,” Fox News, April 3, 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Steve Malzberg Show on TNT Radio about Nashville elementary school shooting, yet another mass public shooting in a gun-free zone.
(Tuesday, March 28, 2023, from 10:04 to 10:24 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott tells One America News that there is a consistent pattern when it comes to mass shooters picking their targets.
One America News March 31, 2023
Following Dr. John Lott’s testimony before the Michigan state House, he has a new op-ed piece with Michigan state Representative Andrew Fink in the Detroit News.
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If you are worried that someone is suicidal, just taking away their guns isn’t a serious solution. There are so many other ways that people can commit suicide. But gun control advocates of “red flag” laws, such as the bill before the Michigan Legislature, want you to believe that simply taking away someone’s legally owned guns ends the risk of suicide.
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Red flag laws are virtually always invoked for suicide prevention, but even in those rare cases where there are threats to others, there are many other ways for people to do harm. Violent individuals have driven cars through parades and crowded sidewalks, for example, to accomplish the same goal.
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The Washington Post reported that between May and June 2020, there were at least 18 cases of vehicles being deliberately rammed into people. In November 2022, Florida police narrowly averted a “mass casualty” event at a 5K Thanksgiving Day run by stopping a woman before she could drive her Range Rover through the crowd at 60 mph. The truck attack in Nice, France, on July 14, 2016, claimed 86 people — two dozen more than the worst mass public shooting in American history. Only the 2015 shooting at a theater in Paris has claimed more lives.
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Under red flag laws, a judge acts on a mere written complaint. He doesn’t talk to the person making the complaint or the person it is made against.
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Under Michigan’s proposed bill, a hearing will occur within 14 days after one’s guns are taken away. But many defendants can’t afford to hire a lawyer. Even if they can, they are likely to decide that keeping their guns isn’t worth the $10,000 that many attorneys will charge.
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All 50 states, including Michigan, already have more fair and effective involuntary commitment laws in place in. If you worry that someone is dangerous, you can tell the police about your concerns. If the police agree there is a “reasonable” chance that the person is a danger to themselves or others, mental health experts evaluate the individual. If the experts agree, an emergency court hearing occurs before a judge’s decision. If a person can’t afford a lawyer, one is provided, and judges have a broad range of less extreme options such as outpatient mental health care or suspending a person’s driver’s license. Gun confiscation is also an option, but only after the process is followed.
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Gun control advocates keep pointing to surveys to prove that Americans overwhelmingly support “common sense” gun control measures, such red flag laws. But surveys compress complicated bills down to one-sentence oversimplifications. Typically, surveys ask people if they support laws that “allow guns to be temporarily confiscated by a judge from people considered by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others.” That seems reasonable, and Americans support such a law by somewhere between 2-1 and 3-1 margins. But involuntary commitment laws already allow this. Surveys fail to explain how red flag laws bypass normal legal and judicial processes such as cross-examination of witnesses and examination of evidence.
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The CPRC conducted a different survey last year on “red flag” laws. After 1,000 likely voters were informed that there are no court proceedings before guns are confiscated and that mental health experts are not consulted, support changed to opposition (29%-47%).
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Finally, the survey asked if people prefer involuntary commitment laws or red flag laws. Respondents favored the current involuntary commitment laws over red flag laws by a 40%-33% margin.
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Research is clear that red flag laws won’t necessarily stop a dangerous person from hurting themselves or others.
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Rep. Andrew Fink, R-Hillsdale, represents Michigan’s House District 35 and serves as the vice chair of the House Judiciary committee. Lott is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center.
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Andrew Fink and John R. Lott, Jr., “At the Detroit News: Red flag laws don’t necessarily prevent harm,” Detroit News, April 2, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about his testimonies to the Michigan State Senate Judiciary Committee and the Michigan House Judiciary Committee about gun control bills, including licensing and universal background checks, red flag laws, and safe storage laws. They also discussed committees in both Michigan chambers suppressing opposition to gun control bills and the challenges of advocating for gun rights.
(Tuesday, March 21, 2023)
Dr. John Lott joined Larry Elder on Epoch TV to discuss the latest deadly shooting at a Nashville elementary school and argue that assault weapons bans and other gun control measures do not prevent mass shootings. California, which has strict gun laws, has a high rate of mass shootings. They also discussed that those who plan mass shootings do not obey gun laws and target places where guns are not allowed, so gun-free zones can become easy targets, like this private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.
(Wednesday, March 29, 2023)
Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, invited Dr. John Lott to testify before the Oregon state Senate Committee On Judiciary on SB 348.
(Monday, March 27, 2023)
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss our latest research showing that the support for universal background checks is very sensitive to the question asked. We started with the standard question asked by survey groups such as Gallup and Morning Consult+Politico and then added details about these laws that are left out of these surveys.
(Friday, March 10, 2023)
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, appeared on Grand Opportunity USA and shared her story of how gun restrictions played a role in the death of her husband.
(Tuesday, March 14, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about Biden’s new executive actions on gun control. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics titled: “Despite California’s Mass Shootings, Biden Wants To Emulate Its Gun Laws.”
(Tuesday, March 14, 2023)
Vicki’s show covers most of Wisconsin and part of the Minneapolis area in Minnesota (WISN, WIBA, WMEQ).
From the New York Post:
Police have not yet released information related to the motive, but said the school — not specific victims — was targeted.
Swope told The Post that Hale had “looked at” two other schools, both public, before deciding “the security was too great to do what she wanted to do.”
“So she chose a private Christian school, for, probably the reason is that the security is a whole lot less,” he went on. . . .
Stephanie Pagones, “Nashville shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto to be released after FBI review: official,” New York Post, March 29, 2023.
Dr. John Lott Jr. was on What’s On Your Mind with Scott Hennen on radio stations that cover North and South Dakota and Minnesota to discuss our latest research about people’s views on universal background checks.They also discussed President Biden’s recently signed Executive Order on gun background checks.
(Tuesday, March 14, 2023, from 10:05 to 10:25 AM CDT)
What’s On Your Mind is statewide across North Dakota on KFYR 550 AM Bismarck, WZFG 1100 AM Fargo, KLTC 1460 AM Dickinson, and KTGO 1090 AM Tioga. KFYR covers eastern Montana, much of South Dakota, and parts of Minnesota.
Dr. John Lott talked to John Williams on the giant 50,000-watt WGN about the assault weapons ban in Illinois and whether the ban will hold up to constitutional challenges.
(Wednesday, March 8, 2023)
Here is yet another example of mass public shooter picking a target based on whether people with guns made doing the attack difficult. More details will hopefully be forthcoming. We have previously pointed to similar examples here and here.
“It was the only school that was targeted. There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” Drake said. “That area was here in Nashville, so we’re continuing with that investigation as well.”
Lydia Fielder and Tony Garcia, “Nashville school shooter purchased 7 guns, planned attack on multiple locations, police say,” WSMV, March 27, 2023.
Updated March 28, 2023: At some point, you would think that the empirical evidence would be overwhelming. When the Aurora, Colorado Batman movie theater shooter attacked, there were seven movie theaters showing “The Dark Knight Rises” on July 20th within 20 minutes of the killer’s apartment at 1690 Paris St, Aurora, Colorado, but the killer picked the only theater that had signs posted that it was a gun-free zone. His first target had been an airport but he worried about their “substantial security.” Similar stories have occurred at malls such as in Omaha and Salt Lake City or the Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater. Despite teachers carrying guns in schools in 20 states, all the shooting attacks at schools have occurred in schools that ban teachers from having guns.Given that people are allowed to carry their permitted concealed handguns in the vast majority of public places, if these mass public shootings were random, 95% or higher of these attacks would take place in areas where permitted concealed handguns were allowed. Instead the reverse is true, with 98% of those attacks taking place where general citizens are banned from having guns.At some point, it would seem obvious that these attacks aren’t random. The links below provide some information that these mass public shooters do consider this information when engaging in their attacks. A more detailed discussion is available in Dr. Lott’s book, The War on Guns.Original: Vince Vaughn explained what should be obvious to most people in an interview in the UK edition of GQ:
“It’s well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They’ve only happened in places that don’t allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenceless human beings. They do not want confrontation. In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there. They are monsters killing six-year-olds.”
Media Matters then attacked Vaughn by pointing to a flawed report by Bloomberg’s Everytown, but of course, Media Matters doesn’t respond or even acknowledge all the errors that have been previously pointed out with Bloomberg’s report. See also here.Killers often openly talk about their desire to attack where no one is there with a gun to stop them.
UPDATE, ADDED EXAMPLE: In the planned Church attack in Detroit, the person planning the attack note one reason to picking his target:“Plus people are not allowed to carry guns in church.” . . .
UPDATE, ADDED EXAMPLE: Regarding the Charleston Church shooting:“I don’t think the church was his primary target because he told us he was going for the school,” Scriven said Friday. “But I think he couldn’t get into the school because of the security … so I think he just settled for the church.” . . .
The Covenant School shooting in Nashville (March 27, 2023).
“It was the only school that was targeted. There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” Drake said. “That area was here in Nashville, so we’re continuing with that investigation as well.”Lydia Fielder and Tony Garcia, “Nashville school shooter purchased 7 guns, planned attack on multiple locations, police say,” WSMV, March 27, 2023.
Last June, Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in Santa Barbara, Calif., explained his own choice. In his 141-page “Manifesto,” Rodger turned down targets because he worried that someone with a gun would cut short his killing spree.That same month, Justin Bourque shot to death three people in Canada. His Facebook page made fun of gun-free zones, with pictures of defenseless victims explaining to killers that they weren’t allowed to have their guns.This past week we finally got a look at the diary of the Batman movie theater killer, James Holmes, and it was clear that he was considering both attacking an airport and a movie theater. But he turned down the airport option because he was concerned about their “substantial security.” Beyond that, only one of the seven movie theaters near the killer’s apartment had posted signs banning permitted concealed handguns and that was the theater that Holmes picked to attack.In February 2016, there was another planned mass public shooting on one of the largest churches in the Detroit area that the FBI stopped. Their recording of this individual’s phone calls is chilling: “It’s easy, and a lot of people go there. Plus people are not allowed to carry guns in church. Plus it would make the news.“
UPDATED, added example: The Buffalo mass murderer in 2022 wrote in his manifesto explaining why he picked the target that he did: “areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack” and “areas with strict gun laws are also great places of attack.” Like other attackers, the Buffalo muderer cased the target before his attack.
Of course, there are numerous other examples such as the Columbine killers opposing the concealed carry law that was then working its way through the state legislature. The Majority leader of the state House at the time, Doug Dean, told John Lott that Klebold had written his state legislators opposing the legislation. The bill would have allowed people to carry permitted concealed handguns on school property. The killers timed their attack for the very day that final passage of the law was planned for in the legislature. (Dr. Lott had been brought into Colorado by Dean to talk to legislators the morning of the vote, and was flying back to Chicago when the attack occurred.) Their attack derailed the passage for years, but few talk about the fact that their attack was timed for just hours before the final vote.For those interested, here is a list of concealed handgun permit holders who have stopped mass public shootings. This is not the first time that Vaughn has made comments on guns, though it is probably the most forceful that he has been on the topic. Here is his interview from earlier in the year for Playboy.
Do you own a gun?I do, yeah. I believe in the right to defend yourself if need be. Hopefully you’re never in that situation, but I think you’re fairly naive to believe there will never be a cause for self-defense. But again, I believe it’s up to the individual. I don’t believe rights come in groups. You shouldn’t get more or fewer rights because of what you believe in or what nationality you were born into.
Here is some updated information on the characteristics of mass public shooters. Including some information from the Covenant school shooter on March 27, 2023. Here is also an Excel file with even more detailed information. Also here is information on statements by these murderers that they pick gun-free zones (see also here).
Mass-Public-Shootings_January-1-1998-to-March-15-2023Download
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s FBI International TV show is no different (Season 2, Episode 13, February 21, 2023). This episode shows an assassin firing a machine gun when cornered.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s FBI International (Season 2, Episode 13, February 21, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1, Episode 13, February 21, 2023.
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023, Episode 15, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14): Episode 10, January 9, 2023, Episode 11, January 15, 2023..
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 4): Episode 1, September 20, 2022; Episode 15, March 14, 2023.
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6): Episode 13, February 10, 2023; Episode 16, March 10, 2023.
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,.
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 10): Episode 1, February 26, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about his testimony to the Michigan House Judiciary Committee on proposed gun control bills. They also discussed how support for Universal Background Checks depends on the question asked. People don’t like the laws when they find out what the laws mean.
(Wednesday, March 15, 2023, from 11:32 to 11:58 AM ET)
Unfortunately, this is yet another mass public shooting in a gun-free zone.
From Tennessee 39-17-1309 Carrying Weapons on School Property:
(d) (1) Each chief administrator of a public or private school shall display in prominent locations about the school a sign, at least six inches (6) high and fourteen inches (14) wide, stating:
FELONY. STATE LAW PRESCRIBES A MAXIMUM PENALTY OF SIX (6) YEARS IMPRISONMENT AND A FINE NOT TO EXCEED THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($3,000) FOR CARRYING WEAPONS ON SCHOOL PROPERTY.
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about his new piece at The Federalist titled “If There’s A Theme To Extremism-Related Murders, It’s Environmentalism.” They also discussed Discover’s gun-related tracking plan, which would begin its surveillance of gun shop purchases in April.
(Friday, March 3, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about his testimony before the Michigan State Senate Judiciary Committee. He expressed his concerns that the proposed gun control laws could lead to more deaths, not fewer.
(Wednesday, March 1, 2023)
Some people don’t understand the notion of marginal deterrence. This accused murderer was already facing three life sentences. Is the threat of a fourth life sentence going to matter? Three life sentences didn’t do it, but when he faces the fourth life sentence, that is just too much of a penalty? Seriously? This guy had nothing more to lose by committing another murder and stealing her car.
Jonathan Welch, the Detroit man who was released on a low bond after being charged with several felonies including torture, has now been charged with a fourth murder that happened prior to his original arrest in June.
Welch was charged Thursday with the murder of Natayla Morse, 24, whose body was found in a field on Detroit’s east side on June 4. Morse’s body was originally unidentified but later confirmed.
According to a release from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, Welch is accused of killing Morse with ‘blunt force trauma’ to her head, then stealing her car and setting it on fire. . . .
Prosecutors then say 36th District Court Magistrate Dawn White set Welch’s bond at $100,000 / 10 percent cash surety. After posting the $10,000 bond, Welch walked out of jail and a few days later, his ex-girlfriend Zlayiah Frazier was dead. . . .
Jessica Dupnack, “Jonathan Welch, man out on low bond accused of murder of parents and ex, now charged with another killing,” Fox 2 (Detroit), March 23, 2023.
Dr. John Lott and the Media Research Center’s Curtis Houck talked to Joseph Patterson, a fill-in host for Alan Nathan on his national radio show at CPAC, about Discover’s gun-related tracking plan, enabling tracking of gun store purchases from April. They also discussed the media bias on covering defensive gun uses.
(Friday, March 3, 2023)
Given all our coverage of television show bias on guns, we wanted to share this episode of Beverly Hillbillies in 1963. It isn’t one that you will see on television anymore. You can see the Crime Prevention Research Center’s collection of biased media coverage of guns on entertainment television shows.
The Beverly Hillbillies Season 01 Episode 24 March 6, 1963
Dr. John Lott and Nikki Goeser appeared on WMAL’s The Vince Coglianese Show live from CPAC in Washington, D.C. to discuss their testimonies before the Michigan state Senate Judiciary Committee against proposed gun-control laws including red-flag laws and mandatory safe-storage laws. Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, explained further by sharing her own experience as a victim of a deadly stalker. They also talked about the dangers of gun-free zones and assault weapons ban.
(Friday, March 3, 2023, from 4:35 to 4:51 PM ET)
Here is an example of a defensive gun use protecting a women from an abusive ex. This information is from the Gainesville police department available here.
A Florida dad shot his daughter’s abusive ex-boyfriend dead after the man allegedly assaulted her in her apartment – then came back for more, according to police.
Gainesville police officers responded to a domestic dispute at the Polos Apartments complex on Saturday and determined the unidentified ex-boyfriend had been inside the woman’s apartment and “physically assaulted her,” a police statement said. The woman’s father also came to the apartment in the aftermath, police said.
About 30 minutes after police took a report for the alleged domestic dispute, the ex came back and “made entry,” according to police.
This time, however, her father shot the suspect once in the chest with a handgun, according to police.
The suspect fled and responding officers found him mortally wounded near his car. He was declared dead by EMS despite CPR efforts, authorities said. . . .
Emma Colton, “Gun-toting Florida dad rushes to daughter’s apartment, turns tables on her abusive ex: police,” Fox News, March 21, 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on NTD News to discuss President Biden’s newly signed executive order on gun control, essentially a means of completing the National Gun Registry.
(Wednesday, March 15, 2023, from 12:02 to 12:07 PM ET)
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on gun control, which increases the number of background checks before firearms are sold. That was ahead of his trip to Monterey Park, California, where a shooting left 11 people dead in January. The president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, John Lott, tells NTD that these types of measures would not stop shootings and he claims the real reason behind Biden’s gun-control order is to complete the national gun registry.
Brady, a gun safety group, says California’s gun laws are working as deaths from guns dropped by 55 percent from 1993 to 2017. Furthermore, analysts say stricter gun laws at the national level are needed to protect Californians from shootings. However, Lott argues that this argument isn’t valid in that the state enacted its 3-strike policy in 1994, which led to crime rates dropping dramatically. He says a few years ago, California undid parts of that policy which led to crime rates increasing.
Kevin Hogan, “Biden’s Gun-Control Order a Means of Completing National Gun Registry: John Lott,” NTD News, March 15, 2023.
. . . Despite oodles of data showing that defensive gun uses (DGUs) occur quite frequently, the gun control crowd insists on deceptively claiming that these situations rarely arise, which means people should not have the right to keep and bear arms. But John Lott, founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, who has been on the front lines in the battle for gun rights, has debunked their claims once again.
In a conversation with the Washington Times, Lott pointed out that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has downplayed the percentage of shootings that end with a “good guy with a gun” using their firearm to save lives. The FBI has long held that only 4.4 percent of active shooting incidents are stopped by civilians using guns. However, Lott suggested the percentage is much higher: 34.4 percent.
The report notes that whenever there is a situation in which an armed civilian stops an active shooting, news agencies “are quick to point to the FBI’s findings as evidence that it’s a rarity.” The author points out that the Bureau’s data has also “been used in court cases” and in “debates on Capitol Hill and in state assemblies.”
However, Lott characterizes the Bureau’s numbers as “garbage and “distorted by shoddy work.”
“They should be embarrassed,” he told the Washington Times. . . . [this is just a small fraction of the piece]
Jeff Charles, “John Lott Exposes the FBI for Hiding ‘Good Guy With a Gun’ Data,” Red State, March 20, 2023.
Since his inauguration, Mr. Bragg has overseen a significant increase in crime rates in Manhattan. According to data from the Crime Prevention Research Center, Mr. Bragg declined to prosecute 35 percent of the the seven “major felonies” — murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto — that were brought to him by investigators.
Matthew Rice, “Manhattan District Attorney’s ‘Soft On Crime’ Record Is Brought Into the Spotlight as He Readies an Indictment of President Trump,” The New York Sun, March 21, 2023.
The fact is, most people who are polled in these anti-gun surveys don’t fully understand what a Universal Background Check is, or that they’re actually Universal Registration Checks.
According to a survey of 1,000 people done by the Crime Prevention Research Center, 86% say they support background checks on all gun sales or transfers, but as soon as they’re asked follow-up questions which explain how this would look as policy, support starts to drop.
For example, when survey participants were asked a question with context on how the law would affect them, 44% now say they oppose Universal Background Checks, and only 42% say they support them.
Universal Background Checks don’t stop crime or criminals, instead they limit the ability of law-abiding citizens from being able to innocently transfer firearms to each other. . . .
Tyler Durden, “GOP Compromise Unintentionally Creates Universal Firearm Background Checks,” ZeroHedge, March 18, 2023.
The Crime Research Prevention Center found that prosecutors have been less like to prosecute felonies and less likely to pursue jail sentences for misdemeanors under Bragg. . . .
Alexander Bolton, “Schumer declines to state confidence in Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg,” The Hill, March 22, 2023.
Dr. John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, wrote for Real Clear Politics: “Few seem to realize that stabilizing braces for pistols were originally designed to allow wounded and disabled veterans who may have lost the use of part of their hand to hold handguns. They are essentially a strap attached to the gun. Disabled individuals are often viewed as easy targets by criminals, and stabilizers make it easier to defend themselves.”
He cites Rick Cicero, a disabled veteran who lost his right arm and leg in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan 13 years ago.
“If they take this away, they’re violating their own law because this is designed and employed for people like me,” Cicero told Spectrum News 9 after the DOJ proposed the rule in 2021.
Cicero, who teaches fellow injured veterans on how to shoot again, added that “the most important thing to me about this brace, this whole aspect, is another avenue of getting injured veterans out of the house.”
According to Dr. Lott, the two instances that Biden cited to garner support for the new ATF policy weren’t even valid examples of braces being used to better commit a crime.
“All this started after President Biden cited a crime in 2021 in Colorado – where a shooter used a pistol stabilizing brace when attacking shoppers in a grocery store – to justify calling for classifying such brace-affixed pistols as machine guns,” Lott wrote. “Ahmed Al Alwi murdered 10 people at close range in a Boulder, Colo. grocery store. A previous shooting in 2019 by Connor Betts, in Dayton, Ohio, also involved a pistol brace. These are the only two cases of their kind and, more importantly, neither of them had any difficulty holding their guns and all their shots were fired at a short distance. There is no evidence that the brace made any difference in their ability to carry out the attacks. And there has been no surge in crime by the disabled or others using these braces.” . . .
Olivia Rondeau, “The ATF Expansion of the Gun Registry Turns Law-Abiding Gun Owners into Felons,” Foundation for Economic Educaiton, March 23, 2023.
But what does the evidence say about “gun-free zones”?
According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, “gun-free zones” (areas where guns are prohibited) have been the target of more than 98% of all mass shootings. This staggering number is why such designated areas are often referred to as “soft targets,” meaning unprotected and vulnerable.
“According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, only a little more than 1% of mass public shootings since 1950 have occurred in places that were not considered to be a gun-free zone,” reports The Blaze. “In fact, as Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott Jr. noted in October 2015, only two mass shootings in the U.S. since 1950 have occurred in an area where citizens were not prohibited from carrying a gun.”. . .
“Most Mass Shootings Happen in Gun-Free Zones,” Attorneys for Freedom Law Firm, March 22, 2023.
The local Fox station in DC picked up the story from its coverage by Fox News.
Murders in the U.S. are becoming increasingly concentrated in densely populated urban centers in just a handful of counties, according to a newly released report.
Some 73% of all murders in the U.S. took place in just 5% of counties while 52% of all counties reported no murders at all, according to a Crime Prevention Research Center study published this week and provided to Fox News Digital.
“Murders in the United States occur in very small areas, and that concentration has increased since 2014,” the study stated. “The concentration in 2020 is now greater than in 2010.”
The report comes as a violent crime wave that ballooned in 2020 still rages in some parts of the country.
“Murder isn’t a nationwide problem,” the study found. “It’s a problem in a small set of urban areas and even in those counties murders are concentrated in small areas inside them, and any solution must reduce those murders.” . . .
More avaiable at Emma Colton, “At Fox News: Murders are becoming even more concentrated in a handful of urban counties, report shows ,” Fox News, January 17, 2023.
Erika Anderson, “The local Fox TV Channel in DC Covers the CPRC’s research on the Concentration of Murders,” Milwaukee City Bulletin, Mar 12, 2023
In the wake of two deadly mass shootings just days apart from one another in California, one might think it would be a time to pause and reflect a bit. After all, these happened in the most gun-controlled state in the nation. Maybe gun control itself should be re-examined.
Biden didn’t, though. Instead, as John Lott pointed out recently in an op-ed, he’s pushing the same failed policies for the entire nation.
President Biden traveled to Monterey Park, California, the site of a mass public shooting that left 11 dead in January, to announce new executive actions on gun control. He touts the proposals as necessary “to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer.” But California already has all the gun control laws that Biden put forward, and yet it has a higher per capita rate of mass public shootings than the rest of the country.
Measures already in place include background checks on all transfers of firearms, “red flag” gun confiscation laws, and an assault weapon ban. Even if Biden’s ideal background check law had been in effect and perfectly enforced, it wouldn’t have stopped one mass public shooting this century.
Biden exaggerated the support for his background check proposals. The surveys he cites compress long, complicated proposals into one-sentence summaries. But when people are told that these laws would turn someone into a felon just for temporarily lending a handgun to a woman who is being threatened by a stalker, survey respondents answer that they oppose the regulation.
I won’t copy and paste the whole thing for obvious reasons, but I suggest you go and read the whole thing yourself. However, I do have to say that I’ve noted the issues with the surveys as well. It’s easy to get support for very broad, one-sentence policy suggestions. What tends to happen is that when the rubber meets the road, people start getting twitchy with the details.
It’s why universal background checks supposedly have such broad support yet fail when they’re up for a vote as they have in numerous states. As noted, people like the overall idea, but not the details.
Lott basically rips Biden’s proposals apart in a far more general sense as well.
However, it wasn’t just about universal background checks. Of particular interest is this bit here: . . . [More available here]
Tom Knighton, “Lott: Biden trying to push failed California gun control,” Bearing Arms, March 22, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about the evidence and statistics on the problems with Red Flag Laws. Lott’s piece in The Federalist is titled: “Red-Flag Laws Won’t Keep Anyone Safer.” They also discussed Biden’s false claims and media misinformation on guns.
(Friday, February 24, 2023, from 11:32 to 11:58 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott appeared on California Today to discuss President Biden’s announcement of the new executive order on gun control, explaining why the order might not be helpful. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics titled “Despite California’s Mass Shootings, Biden Wants To Emulate Its Gun Laws.”
(Wednesday, March 15, 2023)
Dr. John Lott testified before the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of the Student Concealed Carry on College Campus Bill on March 7, 2023. Tennessee is a partial Campus Carry state where professors and staff can carry, though students aren’t allowed to do so.
Michael Bloomberg’s Mom’s Demand Action people sent around the claims shown below against Campus Carry to the Tennessee legislators. Their concern is that people who are 18 to 22 years of age are likely to commit crimes with guns, irresponsibly cause accidental deaths, and likely to commit suicide. But the behavior of those 18 to 22-year-olds with permits differs significantly from the average person of that age. The second through fifth pages in the video above deal directly with their claims.
Here are their claims:
On a four year average from 2018-2021 in Tennessee:
- 1,385 people die by gun violence in Tennessee; 597 of those deaths are by homicide.
- 42% of gun deaths are by firearm homicide, and 54% are by suicide.
- 117 children and teens die by guns per year. 31% of these deaths are suicides and 62% are homicides
- Tennessee has the 8th-highest rate of gun homicide deaths in the country.
- From 2012 to 2021, the rate of gun deaths increased 52%—compared to 39% nationwide. There were 574 more gun deaths in 2021 than in 2012. The rate of gun suicide increased 23% and gun homicide increased 110%.
- This information was compiled using a database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can explore more information
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about Nikki Goeser and his testimonies before the Michigan State Senate Judiciary Committee on proposed gun control laws. They also discussed FBI gun seizure orders and our latest research concerning people’s views on universal background checks.
(Sunday, March 5, 2023, from 9:05 to 9:25 PM)
The CPRC has analyzed how the number of felonies has changed over time in the Manhattan Borough of New York City. Since Alvin Bragg became the borough District Attorney, the number of felonies has surged by 26%. Newsweek has a very lengthy article that discusses our numbers.
.
“Bragg has been in office just a year, but Manhattan seems to be getting progressively worse in crime,” said John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, which describes itself as a non-partisan research organization with academics affiliated from Harvard University, The Wharton School, University of Chicago, University of Michigan and Emory University. Lott is also author of the book “More Guns, Less Crime.”
.
According to his group’s research, culled from the Manhattan D.A. Office’s Data Dashboard, from 2021 to 2022, Manhattan’s seven major felony offenses (murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto) rose by 26 percent to the highest since 2006. . . .
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The payments to Daniels and McDougal are alleged violations of campaign finance laws since they were unreported, though such violations are typically the purview of the federal government, not a Manhattan DA, and they’re rarely called a “felony,” according to Lott.
.
“This is supposedly a violation involving a federal campaign, so it is only covered by federal law,” said Lott.
.
Lott notes that there were no calls to bring felony charges against Hillary Clinton after the Federal Election Commission fined her campaign and the Democratic National Committee for hiding their funding of the “Steele dossier” that accused Trump of colluding with Russia to win the presidency.
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He also noted that Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance, refused to bring a case against Trump. “Bragg himself declined to pursue this case when he first became DA. The US Department of Justice has also refused to bring this case, as has the Federal Election Commission,” he said. . . .
.
According to Lott’s group, the number of felony cases Bragg declined to prosecute rose 35 percent in 2022 compared to 2019, while the drop in misdemeanor prosecutions resulting in jail sentences fell by 78 percent. “What makes this all the more remarkable is that this huge drop occurred while the number of offenses was increasing,” said Lott. . . .
.
Alvin Bragg explicitly motivated his reforms to equalize the incarceration rate across racial groups,” said Lott. “But while Bragg is reducing the penalties on Black criminals, he is ignoring that the victims of these Black criminals are overwhelmingly Black. For example, Blacks murdered about 90 percent of Black murder victims. But whatever Bragg’s motivation, the bottom line is simple: if you make it less risky for criminals to commit crime, you will get more crime.”
.
Paul Bond, “Alvin Bragg’s “Soft on Crime” Policies Face Scrutiny as Manhattan DA Goes After Trump,” Newsweek, March 21, 2023.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s show NCIS Los Angeles is no different (Season 14, Episode 11, January 15, 2023). This episode shows terrorists using machine guns.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14, Episode 11, January 15, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1, Episode 13, February 21, 2023.
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023, Episode 15, March 10, 2023.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14): Episode 10, January 9, 2023, Episode 11, January 15, 2023..
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 4): Episode 1, September 20, 2022; Episode 15, March 14, 2023.
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6): Episode 13, February 10, 2023; Episode 16, March 10, 2023.
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,.
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 10): Episode 1, February 26, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
The Supreme Court’s Bruen decision is working its way through the lower courts, but Democrats hope they can delay cases getting to the Supreme Court until the court’s makeup changes. What will happen to crime and suicide rates? Without states considering microstamping, decisions like this may give them second thoughts.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Santa Anna, California is the latest in a line of decisions striking down state gun laws following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year expanding gun rights. The judge said it would not take effect for 14 days to give the state a chance to appeal. . . .
The 2001 law, known as the Unsafe Handgun Act, requires new semiautomatic handguns to have an indicator showing when there is a round in the chamber and a mechanism to prevent firing when the magazine is not fully inserted, both meant to prevent accidental discharge. It also requires that they stamp a serial number onto bullets they fire, known as microstamping.
Brendan Pierson, “Judge blocks California law requiring safety features for handguns,” Reuters, March 20, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Sebastian Gorka on America First about his piece at Real Clear Politics regarding Biden’s latest gun control measures and how they wouldn’t prevent mass public shootings.
(Friday, March 17, 2023)
Feedspot ranks “the best Crime blogs from thousands of blogs on the web and ranked by traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness.” The CPRC ranks 3rd, ahead of the coverage of crime in the New York Post, Los Angeles, Dallas Morning News, and various police departments, such as the Seattle Police Department.
The Washington Times has a long article on our research on the FBI Active Shooting reports missing cases where civilians stop attacks (see also here). The article is as follows:
Mercedes Perez crashed her car into another car on a San Antonio street in 2021, then jumped out with a gun and began blazing away at neighbors who came out to see what had happened.
She killed one man — the car’s owner — and wounded his wife and son before another neighbor heard the shooting, grabbed his gun and ran to the scene, where he killed Perez with a shot to the neck.
John Lott, founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, said it’s a case of a good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun.
Yet the incident was left out of the FBI‘s database of active shooting incidents.
Mr. Lott says it’s one of dozens of such incidents missing from the bureau’s statistics, which he said has fueled a false narrative that rarely do good guys with guns stop shootings.
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’re not just worthless, they’re misleading.
“It’s garbage,” Mr. Lott told The Washington Times. “They should be embarrassed.”
The FBI‘s active shooter definition is different than all shootings, or even mass shootings. The FBI says it covers instances in which someone with a firearm is “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” The point is to zero in on instances in which there is an ongoing use of a weapon and where there’s a chance for intervention to affect the outcome.
Instances of self-defense, drug and gang violence, hostage situations, and domestic disputes are discounted.
Mr. Lott said there are several sources of error.
The first is the FBI‘s reliance on news accounts, which he said are less likely to cover good guys with guns.
Then there are the judgment calls about what meets the definition of an active shooter case. The FBI says it’s supposed to be when a gun is used in a confrontation outside of a criminal incident such as domestic violence or drug dealing. There are also judgment calls about who qualifies as a regular citizen, or “good guy.” The FBI says a security guard doesn’t count.
When those judgments are bungled, the data suffers.
In 2019, for example, the FBI counted 30 active-shooter incidents and said none was stopped by an armed citizen.
Mr. Lott said the bureau missed 11 incidents altogether and misclassified one. That was a Dec. 29 shooting at a church in White Settlement, Texas, that the FBI listed as stopped by a security guard. That meant it didn’t count it as a good guy with a gun.
Mr. Lott, though, spoke to the shooter, Jack Wilson, who said he wasn’t a security guard but just a member of the congregation. Mr. Wilson also said probably 20 other members of the congregation were armed that day, too.
Discrepancies on good-guy incidents
In 2021, the FBI listed 61 active-shooter incidents, with perhaps four that were stopped by armed citizens. Mr. Lott says he found 112 total incidents, 55 of which were stopped by a good guy with a gun.
That included a Syracuse, New York, case in August in which a man threatened people, then fired at them. Another man, identified by local press as Richard Morose, a property manager, returned fire with a legally possessed handgun and killed the attacker.
“It appears that Mr. Morose saved the lives of several individuals,” the district attorney’s office said, according to Syracuse.com.
Yet the FBI didn’t include it in its count.
Another August 2021 case the bureau left out of its calculations involved a man, upset at a Florida barber shop, who came in with a gun and pointed it at customers. The barbershop owner shot the man in the hip, then other patrons disarmed him, according to a report by Florida Today.
From 2014 to 2021, Mr. Lott said he counted 124 cases the FBI missed in which an armed civilian stopped an active shooter.
Asked whether his numbers might be skewed toward good-guy incidents, Mr. Lott said looks for all kinds of active-shooter cases. But for some reason the FBI seems to flag the other ones.
“The cases they’re missing are systematically just the ones where people use guns to stop the attacks,” he said.
The FBI, in a statement to The Times, said it “works proactively” to spot incidents that should be included. But it acknowledged limitations to its efforts.
“There is no mandated database collection or central intake point for reporting active shooter incidents, which exists for other crimes,” the bureau said. “The active shooter incident research in this report is valid as of March 25, 2022. If additional incidents meeting FBI criteria are identified after the publication of the document, every effort is made to factor those incidents into future reporting.”
Building the FBI‘s database
The bureau builds its data with help from Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center.
An FBI spokesperson wouldn’t reveal how much ALERRT is paid for that work. Mr. Lott said he figures they’re embarrassed at how much they spent for iffy data.
“I’ve spent thousands of dollars on putting together our list. They’ve spent I have no idea how many millions of dollars doing their news searches,” he said.
ALERRT declined to answer questions from The Times, referring a reporter to the FBI.
But the outfit did speak this year with The Washington Post, which also raised questions about Mr. Lott‘s findings.
In reviewing one 2019 case Mr. Lott flagged, in which a man opened fire at a dental office in Tennessee, a patient used his concealed weapon to shoot and then detain the attacker. ALERRT told The Post that because the attacker was shooting his wife, it was a domestic incident and therefore didn’t qualify under the active shooter database rules.
ALERRT also dismissed a case in which a man opened fire at a strip club, hitting three people, then a bouncer with a handgun followed the man outside and shot him in the back, killing him. The researchers told The Post it was discounted as a retaliation murder.
The Post’s fact-checker, in its write-up, questioned the utility of the FBI‘s data and concluded that it is difficult to draw conclusions about good guys with guns because the data is so susceptible to judgment calls.
A level of interpretation
FBI officials released their first active-shooter report in 2014, based on data dating to 2000. They catalogued 160 incidents between 2000 and 2013 that involved someone killing, or attempting to kill, people in a populated area. Gang and drug-related shootings were excluded.
Analysts said five of the incidents — about 3% — ended with an armed citizen exchanging gunfire. The study also counted 21 incidents — 13% of the total — when an unarmed citizen disrupted the shooting.
The FBI has updated its report regularly in the years since. From 2014 to 2021, it has counted 252 active-shooter incidents and says 11 were stopped by an armed citizen — or 4.4% of the time.
Mr. Lott‘s numbers for that period are 360 incidents, with 124 stopped by a good guy with a gun — or 34.4% of the time. In 2021, the data he has the most confidence in, he says it was 49.1% of the time. And looking only at incidents in places where carrying weapons isn’t heavily restricted, the rate is closer to 60%.
He said it makes sense to discount shootings in places where gun control laws restrict possession of a weapon, making it less likely an armed good guy would be on hand in any given situation.
Subtracting those cases out, he identified 81 total active-shooter incidents in places where citizens are legally allowed to carry weapons. He said an armed citizen intervened to stop the attack in 47 of those — or 58% of the time.
“You have to differentiate places where people are legally allowed to carry,” he said.
Mr. Lott‘s work on that particular issue has drawn fierce criticism over the years.
Indeed, after a spate of shootings this month, gun control activists blamed Mr. Lott.
“It’s terrible to recirculate this piece whenever there’s a mass shooting, but ppl inevitably ask why there’s no progress on policy reforms. One reason is John Lott, who has provided the empirical justification for looser firearms laws since the 1990s,” Mike Spies, who specializes in gun control journalism, said on Twitter, linking to a piece he did for TheTrace.org and The New Yorker discounting Mr. Lott‘s research.
Mr. Lott has spent years pressing the FBI over its data. In one exchange in 2018, the FBI told him it is making judgment calls.
“The selection of cases for inclusion in these reports is the result of a consensus vote of analysts and law enforcement professionals using the methodology stated in the original 2013 study,” Shayne Buchwald, an FBI official, told Mr. Lott. “In some cases, a level of interpretation is required with which all may not agree. The FBI notes your differing opinion in the stated cases.”
Mr. Lott flagged the issue again when he worked for the Justice Department as a senior adviser for research and statistics during the latter part of the Trump administration. The data remained unchanged.
“It could be just sloppiness, it could be ignorance, but that doesn’t explain why they don’t fix them once I gave them the links and the stories,” he said.
Stephan Dinan, “FBI data on good guys with guns called ‘garbage’ as critic finds many more cases,” Washington Times, March 20, 2023.
“Ghost guns” are homemade guns. It is already illegal to sell these guns because they don’t have serial numbers. Guns are pretty simple items to build. You can build a shotgun with a few pipes and a nail. Requiring background checks on all parts of guns has been one of the goals of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown.
Once again, Bloomberg’s gun control organizations could have written a recent episode of NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (indeed, it probably was) (Season 3, Episode 14, February 23, 2023). But the notion that these regulations will stop criminals from getting guns is a fantasy. The show would have you believe that creating a registry of all guns’ rifling patterns is important in solving crime. New York and Maryland tried this, spending many tens of millions of dollars over decades, but they couldn’t point to a single crime they had been able to solve. Gun control advocates claimed that 15 years for Maryland’s system just wasn’t long enough to show benefits. Having background checks on all the parts of guns is also seen as important to create a national gun registry, but again registries have never been useful in solving crime.
Gun control advocates push for these background checks not because they believe they will reduce crime but just to make it costly for people to buy guns.
Not only are there already ways for criminals to get guns, such as drug dealers. It is just as difficult to stop criminals from getting guns to stop them from buying illegal drugs. The same source provides both items. In addition, technology is advancing to make it extremely difficult to stop criminals from getting guns, and the regulations are more likely to stop law-abiding citizens than criminals.
More examples are available here.
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime, Season 3, Episode 14, February 23, 2023
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has been very reluctant to prosecute most people for felonies, but apparently, former President Trump is different. Compare the last year before the pandemic (2019) with 2022. Under Bragg, the number of felony cases Bragg declined to prosecute increased from 828 to 1,119 — a 35% increase. That explains most of the drop in the conviction rate for felonies from 68% to 51% over that period. And while many felony cases were then handled as misdemeanors (a 33% increase over 2019), the drop in misdemeanor prosecutions was much larger, explaining why the number of misdemeanors resulting in jail sentences fell by 78%. What makes this all the more remarkable is that this huge drop occurred while the number of offenses increased.
From 2021 to 2022, Manhattan’s seven major felony offenses surged by 26%. But there are four other boroughs in New York City, though they have very progressive District Attorneys. From 2021 to 2022, the four other borough’s seven major felony offenses increased by 22%. So felonies increased slightly faster for Manhattan than in the other four boroughs.
Alvin Bragg explicitly motivated his reforms to equalize the incarceration rate across racial groups. The memo Bragg released just days after taking office mentions his push to end the “racially disparate use of incarceration.” But while Bragg is reducing the penalties on black criminals, he is ignoring that the victims of these black criminals are overwhelmingly black. For example, blacks murdered about 90% of black murder victims. But whatever Bragg’s motivation, the bottom line is simple: if you make it less risky for criminals to commit crime, you will get more crime.
The Compstat data for New York City is available here.
Dr. John Lott talked to Jason Rantz on Settle’s giant 50,000-watt KTTH at CPAC to discuss his new piece at The Federalist on ADL’s false claim with regard to the white supremacy gun violence problem.
(Friday, March 3, 2023, from 5:47 to 5:55 PM)
From One America News: “Doctor John Lott of The Crime Prevention Research Center says 2024 could be a major election when it comes to constitutional rights and the supreme court. One America’s John Hines has more from CPAC.”
Friday, March 3, 2023
While we usually illustrate the bias of television entertainment police to show their bias against private gun ownership and police, this episode illustrates how technology can solve crime. Police are allowed to lie to suspects to get confessions. In this case, the FBI lies to get a witness using “deep fake” technology to get him to provide evidence. The husband doesn’t want to cooperate with the FBI because he worries that his wife’s kidnappers, a terrorist group, will murder her if he tells the FBI what he knows. But the FBI knows that she is already dead, and they use the “deep fake” technology to convince her husband that she is alive and that the FBI has rescued her. The terrorist group has stolen an even more deadly form of the COVID virus.
An article in Police Chief magazine from 2022 discusses the usefulness of this technology, but also the ability of criminals to fake evidence and the inability of police departments to determine whether a video is really authentic or fake.
“Deep fake” software is already readily available to the general public, though police agencies undoubtedly have access to the very best software.
CBS’ FBI, S2E14 Feb 28, 2023
Nikki Goeser’s testimony on Red Flag bill SB23-170:
Dr. Lott’s testimony on Red Flag bill SB23-170:
Dr. Lott’s testimony on lawsuits against gun makers and dealers SB23-168:
Dr. Lott’s testimony on raising the age to buying a gun to 21, SB23-169:
Nikki Goeser and Dr. John Lott testified before the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee against Senate Bill 23-170, which would strengthen the state’s red flag law by allowing district attorneys, educators, and health care professionals, including mental health providers, to seek the order from courts. Dr. Lott also testified on Senate Bill 23-168, which seeks to allow gun victims to sue firearms manufacturers and gun dealers, and Senate Bill 23-169 on raising the legal age for purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21.
(Wednesday, March 8, 2023)
Television show bias against guns is never-ending. Except for two episodes on Paramount’s Yellowstone, you won’t see an entertainment television show with a civilian successfully using a gun defensively. Instead, something always seems to go wrong when guns are used defensively (from being fatally shot by the criminal without stopping the crime to getting in the way of police to continually having the gun stolen and used in a crime to an accidental shooting). In fact, after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision earlier this year, television shows seem to be showing more bad defensive gun uses than ever before. These episodes of NBC’s Magnum P.I. (Season 5, Episode 3, February 26, 2023) and Chicago PD (Season 10, Episode 15, March 1, 2023) are no different. Both episodes show problems with defensive gun use. In Magnum P.I., a couple of criminals explain that they had to shoot and murder a homeowner who tried to defend himself with a gun. In Chicago PD, two robbers are scared off by an undercover police officer. The woman being robbed had a gun but could not reach it when the robbers were there. When she finally got her gun, she tried to shoot the robbers in the back as they ran away, but that would have been a crime. Fortunately, the off-duty officer stopped her.
It is somewhat depressing that 3.7 million viewers saw this misinformation on Magnum P.I. and 5.03 million saw Chicago PD. In our collection of 124 cases where armed civilians have stopped active shooting attacks, there is not one case that corresponds to the examples shown in these various TV shows where a concealed carry permit holder accidentally shoots a bystander or where they caused a bystander to be shot.
Real Clear Investigations: There Are Far More Defensive Gun Uses Than Murders in America. Here’s Why You Rarely Hear of Them
Real Clear Politics: Faulty FBI Data Obscures Successful Defensive Gun Use
Real Clear Investigations: How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers — and Media Play Along
More examples of these types of shows are available here.
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.
Dr. John Lott talked to Bob Frantz on Cleveland’s WHK about his new piece at Real Clear Politics titled “MSU Shooting: The Blame Game.” They discussed that gun control advocates keep pushing laws, such as assault weapons ban and red flag laws, that won’t do anything to stop the crimes in question. They also talked about the danger of gun-free zones.
(Monday, February 27, 2023, from 11:05 to 11:24 AM EST)
Dr. John Lott Jr. appeared on The Scott Sands Show on News Radio 1370 WSPD Toledo to discuss the causes behind increased violent crime nationwide.
(Tuesday, February 21, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Real Clear Politics.
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President Biden traveled to Monterey Park, California, the site of a mass public shooting that left 11 dead in January, to announce new executive actions on gun control. He touts the proposals as necessary “to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer.” But California already has all the gun control laws that Biden put forward, and yet it has a higher per capita rate of mass public shootings than the rest of the country.
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Measures already in place include background checks on all transfers of firearms, “red flag” gun confiscation laws, and an assault weapon ban. Even if Biden’s ideal background check law had been in effect and perfectly enforced, it wouldn’t have stopped one mass public shooting this century.
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Biden exaggerated the support for his background check proposals. The surveys he cites compress long, complicated proposals into one-sentence summaries. But when people are told that these laws would turn someone into a felon just for temporarily lending a handgun to a woman who is being threatened by a stalker, survey respondents answer that they oppose the regulation.
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One proposal would force people who sell or transfer only a few guns to obtain a federal firearms license. But even licensed dealers face an uphill regulatory battle. Biden’s zero-tolerance (zero tolerance for what?) policy drives licensed dealers out of business. The end effect is to stop gun sales.
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But Biden has another goal. Despite federal law explicitly forbidding a national gun registry, the President has begun putting together a national database on gun ownership. By the beginning of last year, there were almost a billion entries.
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Forcing gun transfers to go through licensed dealers will help create a more complete registry. And that’s about all it will do, since gun licensing and registration doesn’t solve any crime. The bottom line is to drive up the price of guns for law-abiding citizens and therefore stop gun sales altogether. In other countries and even in parts of the United States, registration is consistently used to eventually take away people’s guns, and given Biden’s constant call to ban all semi-automatic weapons, which make up about 85% of all guns sold in the U.S., that is a real concern here.
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Biden wants to “improve public awareness and increase” use of red flag laws (Extreme Risk Protection Orders). But this diverts focus from better laws already on the books in all 50 states. Involuntary commitment laws provide for evaluations by mental health experts, an emergency court hearing, and a lawyer. These laws give judges more options, such as mandatory outpatient mental health care, driver’s license suspensions, or taking away their guns.
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By contrast, red flag laws only take away a person’s guns. If a person is truly suicidal – almost all the red flag cases involve concerns over suicide – there are so many other methods that are just as likely to be successful (hanging oneself, walking in front of a train, jumping from a height). Simply taking away someone’s legally owned guns isn’t a serious solution.
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Gun control advocates claim that California’s 1990 assault weapon ban is responsible for its 55% drop in firearm mortality from 1993 to 2017. But California’s murder rate peaked in 1993 at 13.1 per 100,000 people, rising from 10.9 in 1989, the year before the state enacted its assault weapons ban. So why did the murder rate fall by 10% in 1994 and not in 1990, and continue falling by 53% by 2000? California’s tough three-strikes criminal punishment law started on March 7, 1994.
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Biden says we need national gun control laws to protect states like California, but that ignores the fact that the guns used in California’s mass public shootings were from California. Indeed, the firearms in all but two mass public shootings over the last 25 years were from the state where the attack occurred.
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Gun control measures aren’t just ineffective against mass public shootings – they actually encourage attacks. The shootings keep occurring in places where people can’t have concealed handguns. In Los Angeles County, where two mass public shootings occurred in January, there is only one permit for every 5,660 adults. In San Mateo County, where another attack occurred, there is one permit per 24,630 adults. By comparison, there is one permit holder for every nine people in the 43 right-to-carry states.
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Concealed handgun permit holders make a difference in those 43 states. Indeed, people legally carrying guns stopped at least 37 mass public shootings since 2020. And when Americans are allowed to legally carry concealed handguns, they stop about halfof the active shooting attacks in the U.S.
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Mass public shooters purposefully pick targets where they know their victims cannot protect themselves. The perpetrator of a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., last year wrote in his manifesto: “Areas where CCW [carrying a concealed weapon] are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack ... Areas with strict gun laws are also great places of attack.” Other mass murderers have made similar statements.
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These killers may be crazy, but most aren’t stupid. Yet, states like California, New York, and New Jersey are moving to create more gun-free zones, where mass murderers won’t have to worry about victims protecting themselves.
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Unfortunately, the gun control Biden pushes won’t stop mass public shootings and will only make problems worse. Gun control failures are used to call for more gun control laws. The solutions that would actually work aren’t being discussed.
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John R. Lott, Jr., “Despite California’s Mass Shootings, Biden Wants To Emulate Its Gun Laws,” Real Clear Politics, March 15, 2023.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, NBC’s show Chicago PD is no different (Season 10, Episode 11, January 11, 2023). This episode shows a driveby shooting a machine gun into a crowd at a church.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10, Episode 11, January 11, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1,
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
Dr. John Lott talked to Jan Jekielek on Epoch TV’s American Thought Leaders at CPAC 2023 in DC. They discussed a wide range of topics including the Biden administration’s zero-tolerance policy on “rogue” gun dealers, ATF’s ruling on pistol braces, the passage of more restrictive gun control laws in various states, constitutional carry bills’ advancing in three more states, etc.
(Friday, March 3, 2023)
From 1:15 to 2:00 AM ET, March 3, 2023From 2:05 to 3:00 AM ET, March 3, 2023Dr. John Lott talked to George Noory on his national radio show from 1:15 to 3:00 AM ET on March 3, 2023. They discussed everything from why violent crime is increasing to what Biden is doing to make gun ownership is more difficult and costly to the FBI’s erroneous numbers on defensive gun use.
The Coast to Coast AM national radio show is heard weekly by 7.75 million people. Here is a list of the 24 past long form appearances on Coast to Coast.
From the write up at Coast to Coast AM.
Economist John R. Lott received his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA. In the first half, he discussed his latest work researching the data surrounding gun crime and pending gun control legislation. According to Lott, President Biden has mounted an aggressive campaign to put gun makers and sellers out of business with a “zero tolerance” policy against paperwork errors, no matter how trivial. Biden has talked about banning all semi-automatic guns, “but about 85% of handguns and a similar percentage of rifles in the United States are semi-automatic; they’re not weapons of war,” and it’s misleading to refer to them as such, he continued.
The number of shooters stopped by civilians carrying permitted concealed carry weapons is consistently underestimated by the Dept. of Justice, he cited. Would-be killers know they can rack up a greater number of deaths if they go to a place where it’s illegal to carry concealed handguns, he added. Putting someone in a uniform that carries a gun in places like a school is problematic because if there is a shooter, they may go after them first, said Lott, who suggested having an armed person who blends in, so they may have a better chance to stop an attack. Lott was also critical of the cost of getting a concealed carry permit, which can be prohibitively expensive in states like California.
Coast to Coast with George Norry, March 2, 2023.
Somehow this Connecticut Against Gun Violence executive director doesn’t seem to realize that you look at other places that have these laws to see if there is evidence that they work.
Senator: So you don’t know if it works?
Jeremy Stein: We don’t know if any of our laws in the state of Connecticut work to reduce the crime as they are intended. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pass this law. That is true around the country.
Testimony from a Joint Jucidiary Committee hearing in Connecticut on March 6, 2023.
The local Fox station in DC picked up the story from its coverage by Fox News.
Murders in the U.S. are becoming increasingly concentrated in densely populated urban centers in just a handful of counties, according to a newly released report.
Some 73% of all murders in the U.S. took place in just 5% of counties while 52% of all counties reported no murders at all, according to a Crime Prevention Research Center study published this week and provided to Fox News Digital.
“Murders in the United States occur in very small areas, and that concentration has increased since 2014,” the study stated. “The concentration in 2020 is now greater than in 2010.”
The report comes as a violent crime wave that ballooned in 2020 still rages in some parts of the country.
“Murder isn’t a nationwide problem,” the study found. “It’s a problem in a small set of urban areas and even in those counties murders are concentrated in small areas inside them, and any solution must reduce those murders.” . . .
More avaiable at Emma Colton, “At Fox News: Murders are becoming even more concentrated in a handful of urban counties, report shows ,” Fox News, January 17, 2023.
While most of the testimony presented Thursday was in favor of the 11-bill package, Nikki Goeser spoke out again the addition of new laws. Goeser’s husband was shot and killed in front of her in April 2009.
“There are currently involuntary commitment laws that already exist in every state in this nation, people just need to use them,” she said. . . .
Meghan Bunchman, “Michigan Senate committee hears testimony on proposed gun reforms,” Wood TV (Grand Rapids, Holland, Kalamazoo, Michigan), March 2, 2023.
John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, spoke against the bills in Lansing Thursday, saying they could lead to more deaths not fewer.
“People use guns defensively to stop violent crimes about five times more frequently each year than they’re used to commit crime,” Lott said. . . .
Riley Beggin, “Michigan senators call for federal gun safety bills after MSU shooting,” Detroit News, March 2, 2023.
Opponents of background check laws and other gun safety proposals introduced in Michigan argue that none of the measures would have prevented the mass shooting at Michigan State. John Lott, president of the pro-gun rights Crime Prevention Research Center, testified in committee gun safety laws aren’t practical because criminals don’t respect laws. . . .
Arpan Lobo, “House votes to expand background checks on gun sales,” Detroit Free Press, March 8, 2023.
John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, spoke against the bills Thursday, saying they could lead to more deaths not fewer.
“People use guns defensively to stop violent crimes about five times more frequently each year than they’re used to commit crime,” Lott said.
The most vulnerable people benefit the most from having guns available for protection, Lott argued. . . .
Craig Mauger, “MSU professor to lawmakers: Pass gun laws to stop ‘senseless killings’,” Detroit News, March 2, 2023 and Union-Bulletin (Walla Walla, WA), March 2, 2023.
Dr. John R. Lott Jr., founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, said Maryland’s laws would be outliers.
“In fact, if you look across the country, there’s no state that adopted a right-to-carry law or a constitutional carry law that’s even had a legislative hearing afterwards to try to undo the law once it’s in place. There’s a lot of concerns and fears about things that might happen but look at the experience to see whether or not it happens or not.” . . .
MICHAEL CHARLES and MICHELLE LARKIN, “Activists gather in Annapolis as hearings begin on gun control,” Capital News Service, February 8, 2023.
Opponents of background check laws and other gun safety proposals introduced in Michigan argue that none of the proposed measures would have prevented the mass shooting at Michigan State. John Lott, president of the pro-gun rights Crime Prevention Research Center, testified in committee gun safety laws aren’t practical because criminals don’t respect laws. . . .
Ken Palmer, “Mother of MSU shooting victim calls for ‘common sense’ gun safety legislation,: Lansing State Journal, March 9, 2023.
Yesterday and today, committees in both chambers held public hearings for a number of anti-gun bills. Despite these being “public” hearings, the committee chairs manipulated the hearings in order to make it seem that public sentiment is one-sided in favor of the bills. A large crowd of Second Amendment supporters took the time out of their schedules to show up, but the House Judiciary Committee cut off testimony after hearing 2.5 hours of just gun control supporters and told anyone else wishing to testify to “come back next week.” The Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee pulled a similar stunt, only allowing two well-known opponents to testify: researcher John Lott and violent crime survivor Nikki Goeser. . . .
Staff, “Michigan: Committees Suppress Opposition to Anti-Gun Bills,” NRA-ILA, March 2, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to fill-in host Dan Caroll on 700 WLW’s The Bill Cunningham Show about the relationship between gun ownership and crimes. They also discussed the problems with Red Flag Laws and the misinformation from Entertainment TV on guns.
(Tuesday, February 21, 2023, from 2:09 to 2:29 PM EST)
In his Feb. 5 Fact Checker column, “What’s more common: A ‘good guy’ without a gun or a ‘good guy’ with one?,” Glenn Kessler made a great case for the FBI to include all incidents of active shooters stopped or curtailed by good Samaritans, armed or not. . . .
Perhaps The Post — following the example of John R. Lott Jr., a gun rights researcher — should preempt the FBI and create a database for civilian crimes interdicted by the good guys, regardless of the method or means used by these courageous heroes.
Emory Damron, “FBI data should cover the good and the bad guys,” Washington Post, February 17, 2023.
“It’s the reason why you’ve seen the increase in gun sales,” said John Lott, president and founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center. “Because people realize that the police and law enforcement broadly isn’t being allowed — the criminal justice system isn’t being allowed — to go and do its job.
“And the people know that they ultimately have to be responsible for protecting themselves and their families,” Lott told Fox News Digital in a recent phone interview. . . .
Emma Colton, “2nd Amendment steps in after cops step back in wake of defund movement in Chicago,” Yahoo! News, February 16, 2023.
John R. Lott Jr., founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, said Maryland’s laws would be outliers.
“In fact, if you look across the country, there’s no state that adopted a right-to-carry law or a constitutional carry law that’s even had a legislative hearing afterwards to try to undo the law once it’s in place. There’s a lot of concerns and fears about things that might happen but look at the experience to see whether or not it happens or not.” . . .
Michael Charles and Michelle Larkin, “‘We’re not going to stand for it.’ Gun rights activists take their case to lawmakers,” Delmarrva.com, February 8, 2023.
The president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, John Lott, told The New York Sun that laws like that proposed in Colorado will do nothing to stop crime and will infringe on manufacturers’ right to engage in lawful commerce.
“People could sue manufacturers and sellers whenever a crime, accident, or suicide occurs with a gun,” Mr. Lott said. “The straightforward result would be to put gun makers out of business. Should Ford or GM be sued when car accidents occur because a driver isn’t paying attention or drives recklessly, perhaps under the influence?”
Matthew Rice, “Colorado Looks To Join Growing List of States Allowing Lawsuits Against Gunmakers,” The New York Sun, February 21, 2023.
The president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, John Lott, testified in a hearing about the bill that the gun-free zones proposed in Maryland would be “magnets” for criminals.
“The people who obey these laws are law-abiding citizens,” Mr. Lott said, adding that criminals have been known to explicitly pick those areas for attacks to take advantage of the idea that their victims won’t be carrying weapons.
“You can go through many diaries or manifestos from mass murderers,” Mr. Lott said. “For example, the Buffalo mass murderer last year wrote about areas where concealed carry is outlawed or prohibited that are good areas for attack.”
Matthew Rice, “Maryland Moves To Curb Gun Rights Despite Supreme Court Edicts,” New York Sun, February 10, 2023.
It is alarming to me that the media provide little coverage of the fact that some shooters, in their manifestos, describe how they pick their targets. The shooter who killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket in last May went into great detail about how he chose a place where guns were not allowed. The staggering reality is that 94% of these tragedies happen in gun-free zones, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center, a gun-rights advocacy organization. Let’s address that, Mr. President. . . .
Frank Groff, “Banning guns is not the answer,” Lancaster Online (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), February 19, 2023.
John Lott, President and founder of the Missoula-based Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), told KGVO News on Wednesday that gun control groups claim that he and his research and writings are at least partially responsible for the tragic shooting deaths of three Michigan State University students on Monday night.
Lott said groups such as Bloomberg’s ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’ immediately blame people like Lott and his research with the Crime Prevention Resource Center for these mass shootings.. . .
Peter Christian, “MIssoula’s Lott says he is being partially blamed for the MSU Shooting,” KGVO, February 15, 2023.
Despite the high number of murders, many parts of the country don’t have the same problem with crime. A study conducted by the Crime Prevention Research Center revealed that in 2020, only 1% of counties had serious problems with homicides, making up 42% of the investigations recorded nationwide. On the other hand, more than half of the counties, 52%, did not have a single case involving individual deaths at the hands of another person. . . .
Rosana Sainz, “42% of murders occurred in only 1% of the counties,” Voz media, February 20, 2023.
According to a 2018 study by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), a whopping 97.8% of mass shootings over a 68-year period occurred in “gun-free zones.” . . .
Matt Margolis, “The New York Times Has an Embarrassing Epiphany About ‘Gun-free Zones’,” PJ Media, February 13, 2023.
In a notable address to Congress, John Lott, founder and CEO of the Crime Prevention Research Center, quickly detailed the facts about crime the mainstream media has no interest in reporting. He appeared as an expert witness before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee. Before he spoke, Rep. Andy Biggs (R) said, “Milton Friedman noted John Lott has few equals as a perceptive analyst of controversial public-policy issues.” This is a statement that, no doubt, would make any member of the mainstream media present groan (if, that is, given the insular worldview of so many of today’s media members, they even know who Milton Friedman was). As much of the media won’t report on this, here are the highlights.
“I desperately want to do something to stop the horrific violence … but I want to do something that actually matters. Unfortunately, many of the proposals won’t help or will actually make matters worse,” said Lott in his testimony.
• Over 92% of violent crimes in America do not involve firearms. The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey for 2020 shows 4,558,150 rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, and the FBI reports 21,570 murders. Of those, firearms were involved in 350,460 of those crimes, which means that firearms were only involved in 7.9% of these violent crimes.
• While the U.S. media doesn’t give much coverage to mass murders in other countries, over the 20 years from 1998 to 2017, the U.S. had less than 1.13% of the world’s share of mass public shooters and 1.77% of its mass public murders. That’s much less than the U.S.’s 4.6% share of the world population.
• Like many other mass murderers, the killer in the 2022 attack at a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store targeted defenseless people. He even wrote in his manifesto: “Attacking in a weapon-restricted area may decrease the chance of civilian backlash. Schools, courts, or areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack. Areas where CCW permits are low may also fit in this category. Areas with strict gun laws are also great places of attack.” The national media often refuses to report the fact that 94% of mass public murders occur in places where civilians are banned from having firearms.
A1F Staff, “Crime Facts the Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want To Report,” America’s 1st Freedom, February 24, 2023.
New research from the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) proves, once again, what most of us have known all along—when it comes to murder in America, the country’s millions of lawful gun owners are not the problem.
The research paper, titled “Murders in U.S. Are Very Concentrated, and They Are Becoming Even More So,” revealed that 2% of American counties experienced 56% of murders in 2020, proving that increasing murder rates are very localized and in historic hotspots.
“When it comes to murder, there are three types of counties in the United States,” the study stated. “Most counties experience no murders, a smaller set where there are a few murders and then a tiny set of counties where murders are very common.”
According to the research, in the year studied, 52% of counties, which had 10% of the population, had no murders. Further, 68% of counties had no more than one murder. These counties accounted for only 2.6% of all murders in the country in 2020.
“The worst 1% of counties (the worst 31 counties) have 21% of the population and 42% of the murders,” the report stated. “The worst 2% of counties (62 counties) contain 31% of the population and 56% of the murders. The worst 5% of counties contain 47% of the population and account for 73% of murders.”
Even within those dangerous counties, however, the murders are very heavily concentrated in small, localized areas. In looking at the high-murder-rate counties by zip codes, some are mostly murder free.
Take Los Angeles County, Cali., as an example. There, the worst 10% of the zip codes account for 41% of the murders, the worst 20% have 67% and the worst 30% have 82% of murders.
“By contrast, the safest 40% of the counties have just 1% of the murders,” the report stated. “Recent research shows that murders in Los Angeles County have become less concentrated over time, but they are still fairly concentrated.” . . .
Mark Chesnut, “New Study Shows Localized Nature of America’s Murder “Problem”,” America’s 1st Freedom, February 10, 2023.
. . . John Lott, head of the Crime Prevention Research Center, brought that to the attention of Congress when he testified before a House subcommittee. According to Lott, after hiring academics at Texas State University to find news stories about DGU incidents, the FBI reported that armed citizens stopped only 11 of the 252 active-murderer incidents that it identified for 2014-2021. Lott’s group, however, looked at news stories and discovered 360 active-murderer incidents during that time period, with 124—more than one-third—being stopped by armed citizens. . . .
Mark Chesnut, “The CDC Killed a Gun Study,” America’s 1st Freedom, February 24, 2023.
David Clarke . . . board member of the Montana-based Crime Prevention Research Center.
Milwaukee Magazine Staff, “Milwaukee Magazine Through the Years: The Aughts,” Milwaukee magazine, February 13, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about his new piece at Real Clear Politics on the mass shooting at Michigan State University. Immediately after the incident, President Biden led a chorus of politicians and gun control groups in calling for more gun control laws that won’t do anything to stop the crimes in question.
(Wednesday, February 22, 2023)
Dr. John Lott testified before the Michigan House Judiciary Committee about gun control bills, including licensing and universal background checks, Red Flag laws, and safe storage laws. The hearings were partially motivated by the Michigan State University shooting. Dr. Lott provided statistics to show that the proposed bills could lead to more deaths, not fewer. Gun safety laws aren’t practical because criminals don’t respect laws.
(Wednesday, March 8, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about Nikki and his testimonies before the Michigan State Senate Judiciary Committee on proposed gun control laws including red flag laws and safe storage laws.
(Monday, March 6, 2023)
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, appeared on Armed American Radio to discuss her op-ed at Fox News offering advice for others on how to protect themselves from stalkers. See also Nikki’s book “Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband In Front Of Me.”
(Sunday, February 19, 2023, from 8:35 to 8:55 PM)
Dr. John Lott and Congressman Thomas Massie have a new op-ed at Newsweek on important new research from the CPRC.
A frequent talking point in the gun control debate is that Americans overwhelmingly support “common sense” gun control measures, such as universal background checks and red flag laws. The Biden administration referenced these surveys last month, when it announced that $231 million will go to states that enact “red flag” laws and push gun control policies. These surveys are constantly invoked in legislative hearings and in the media. But surveys often compress complicated bills down to one-sentence summaries, and the results are often unreliable.
Gun control advocates claim that over 90% of Americans support universal background checks, which would require checks for privately exchanged firearms. Fact-checkers from Politifact and Snopes support these claims. When asked why Congress won’t pass a universal background check law, academics point to the lobbying power of the National Rifle Association.
But in 2016, despite billionaire Michael Bloomberg‘s overwhelming financial backing, ballot initiatives for universal background checks failed in Maine by 4% and won in Nevada by less than 1%. In both Maine and Nevada, the background check initiatives had far more financial support, and the media was overwhelmingly sympathetic to the cause.
If the surveys conducted by gun control advocates were accurate, these should have been easy wins. But surveys often ask very simple questions such as, “Do you support or oppose requiring background checks on all gun sales or transfers?” The actual laws in question, however, can run for dozens of pages and are far more complicated than one-sentence summaries imply.
To examine this, the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), which one of us heads, hired McLaughlin & Associates to survey 1,000 likely voters from February 17 to 22. When asked if they support background checks on all gun sales or transfers, likely voters expressed support for such a law by a whopping 86%-11% margin. Those who strongly supported the policy outnumbered those who strongly oppose, 70%-5%. All incomes, education levels, and demographics expressed support for such a law.
Two follow-up questions were then asked.
First: “These laws are called universal background checks. Let’s say a stalker is threatening a female friend of yours late on a Saturday night. She asks you if she can borrow your handgun until she has a chance to buy one. She is trained and has no criminal record. If you loaned her the gun, this law would make you a felon. Would you support or oppose this law?”
Respondents now opposed these background checks by a 44%-42% margin. While Democrats, liberals, singles, those living in urban areas, and blacks still strongly supported these laws, Republicans, moderates, married people, those living in non-urban areas, and whites opposed them.
Second: “A Boy Scout troop is going for his skeet shooting badges. If you lend the Scout master your shotguns, you would be committing a felony. Would you support or oppose this law?”
Voters now opposed the policy by a 45%-42% margin, with a similar demographic breakdown.
Surveys on “red flag” laws contain the same sort of oversimplification. These surveys typically ask people if they support laws that “allow guns to be temporarily confiscated by a judge from people considered by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others.” That seems reasonable, and Americans support such a law by somewhere between 2-1 and 3-1 margins. But all 50 states already have involuntary commitment laws that do exactly that. Surveys fail to explain how “red flag” laws will change the current law and bypass normal legal and judicial processes whereby complaints are made and witnesses are cross-examined.
The CPRC also undertook a survey last year on “red flag” laws. After respondents were told that there are no court proceedings before an individual’s guns are taken away and that there are no mental health care experts involved in the entire process, support changed to opposition to such laws (29%-47%).
Finally, people in the survey were asked if they prefer involuntary commitment laws or “red flag” laws. But first, they were told that involuntary commitment laws provide for evaluations by mental health experts, an emergency court hearing takes place before a judge’s final decision, a lawyer is provided if a person can’t afford one, and judges have a range of less extreme options, such as mandatory outpatient mental health care. Respondents favored the current involuntary commitment laws over “red flag” laws by a 40%-33% margin.
Presumably, gun control advocates could counter with some survey questions of their own. But the bottom line is these surveys do nothing more than provide talking points for interest groups and dishonestly try to make people on the other side of the debate feel isolated and out of step with the rest of the country.
John R. Lott, Jr. is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) represents Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District and is the co-chair of the Second Amendment Caucus.
John R. Lott, Jr. and Thomas Massie, “There Is No Firm, Sustained Support for Gun Control,” Newsweek, March 9, 2023.
Phoenix, AZ, December 2, 2022 (Fox 10 Phoenix)
An argument in a neighborhood near Bell Road and 32nd Street ended with a man being shot and killed on Friday, Phoenix police said.
Investigators say the shooter was defending himself when he killed 45-year-old Jorge Rodriguez, and he was not arrested.
The incident happened at around 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 after Rodriguez reportedly began arguing with the suspect, who was working in the area at the time.
The suspect told police that Rodriguez took out a gun and pointed it at him.
“The suspect took out his own handgun and shot the victim,” police said…
Fox 10 Staff, “Suspect killed man in Phoenix neighborhood in self defense, police say,” Fox 10 Phoenix, December 4, 2022.
Chicago, IL, December 2, 2022 (CWB Chicago)
An insurance agent working late in his Rogers Park office shot a four-time felon who broke into his business last week, prosecutors said as they filed charges against the accused man on Thursday.
The victim was still working at 1:45 a.m. on December 2 when he grabbed his gun to investigate a loud banging noise at the back door of his office in the 1900 block of West Howard. He encountered a man he did not recognize and fired several shots, officials said, and the burglar ran out the back door, which had been removed from its hinges…
CWB Chicago Staff, “Rogers Park business owner shot intruder while working late, prosecutors say,” CWB Chicago, December 8, 2022.
Warner Robbins, GA, December 5, 2022 (13WMAZ)
Police say a Warner Robins restaurant employee who shot and killed an armed robber was acting in self-defense…
The call came in from the American Philly N Wings on Watson Boulevard. Police say 23-year-old Joshua Hickey tried to rob the place…
Sergeant Justin Clark with Warner Robins Police says Hickey jumped the counter and attempted to make his way to a door in the restaurant while demanding money. That’s when things escalated, Hickey allegedly pistol-whipped a worker and the two men fought over the gun…
“The restaurant worker was struck, hit the ground. As he was coming back up, he drew his own legally-owned firearm and fired three shots at Mr. Hickey. Mr. Hickey was struck twice and fled on foot,” Clark said about the tussle…
Caleesha Moore, “Warner Robins police say restaurant worker shot, killed armed robber in self-defense,” 13WMAZ, December 6, 2022.
Chicago, IL, December 5, 2022 (Fox 32 Chicago)
The 56-year-old man was inside his vehicle just before 6 a.m. in the 4700 block of West Arthington Street when a car with three teens inside pulled up, according to Chicago police.
One of teens got out of the car and pointed a gun at the victim while demanding his belongings, police said.
A struggle ensued and the victim, who is a FOID and concealed carry license holder, pulled out his gun and started shooting police said…
The concealed carry holder was not injured during the incident…
FOX 32 Digital Staff, “Concealed carry holder shoots 2 during attempted robbery on Chicago’s West Side,” Fox 32 Chicago, December 5, 2022.
Ludlow, KY, December 5, 2022 (Local 12)
Around 4:30 a.m. neighbors on Elm Street woke up to police taking pictures and gathering evidence…
Police responded to the area for car break-ins when they found a man bleeding from his neck. Police have identified the man who was shot and taken to the hospital as Damon Hammons. Officers say the man who fired the shot is not facing charges…
Police are looking for fingerprints on the cars that were broken into to see if they match Hammons’…
Courtney Wheaton, “Police investigate early morning shooting in Ludlow,” Local 12, December 5, 2022.
Birmingham, AL, December 8, 2022 (ABC 3340)
The fatal shooting of two men at an Eastlake gas station last week was ruled justifiable by authorities.
The Birmingham Police Department said Tobias Mckinstry and Timmeric Bryant were killed Thursday, December 8 in the 8300 Block of 1st Avenue North.
Police said the preliminary investigation revealed that McKinstry was involved in an argument with a third person surrounding his car being stolen earlier and being observed at the location.
Police said evidence gathered during the investigation revealed McKinstry entered the gas station brandishing a shotgun. The gas station had patrons inside. Police said one of the patrons pulled out a firearm and fired shots in McKinstry’s direction, striking him along with Bryant, who was at the gas station accompanying the third party involved in the original argument…
Police said investigators presented the information gathered to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office for review. Following the assessment, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office ruled the actions justifiable.
Sumner Harrell, “Fatal shooting of two men at East Lake gas station ruled ‘justifiable’,” ABC 3340, December 16, 2022.
Tempe, AZ, December 10, 2022 (ABC 15 Arizona)
A man is in critical condition after being shot a little before 2 a.m. Saturday morning near the intersection of 6th Street and Mill Avenue in Tempe.
Tempe police say the man was seen trying to enter several parked cars along the street. He then approached a car with people in it and forced his way inside the vehicle.
Once inside the vehicle, an altercation occurred between the man and the driver, then the driver pulled out a gun and shot the man.
The driver/shooter remained at the scene and reportedly cooperated with the police….
ABC 15 Arizona Staff, “Man shot near 6th Street and Mill Avenue in Tempe,” ABC 15 Arizona, December 10, 2022.
Chicago, IL, December 10, 2022 (ABC 7 Chicago)
A concealed carry holder shot two offenders during a possible attempted car theft early Saturday morning, Chicago police said…
A 31-year-old man was walking toward his parked vehicle in the Loop’s 0-100 block of West Randolph Street at about 3:37 a.m., police said. A red SUV passed him, and someone fired shots in his direction.
The victim, who holds a FOID card and concealed carry license, took out his gun and fired several rounds, police said. The SUV then fled the scene. The victim, who was not injured, saw someone get out of his parked vehicle and run away…
Evelyn Holmes and ABC 7 Chicago Digital Team, “Chicago shooting: Concealed carry holder shoots 2 men during possible car theft attempt, police say,” ABC 7 Chicago, December 10, 2022.
Sherwood, OR, December 11, 2022 (KATU)
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said the incident happened Sunday night shortly before 8 p.m. Cody Buyas, 36, of Beavercreek, was “stalking an ex-girlfriend at her home” when family members found him outside, according to investigators.
During the confrontation, deputies say Buyas showed that he had a weapon, and a family member fired multiple shots.
The family members involved are cooperating with the investigation, which is still ongoing, police said. No one has been arrested in the case…
KATU Staff, “Stalking suspect shot by ex-girlfriend’s family member outside her home, authorities say,” KATU, December 13, 2022.
Port St. John, FL, December 11, 2022 (Click Orlando)
The fatal shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. at the McDonald’s at 6857 North Highway 1.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to the restaurant and found a man in the parking lot suffering from a gunshot wound. The man, later identified by sheriff’s officials as Brandon Turner, 36, of Cocoa, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
A preliminary investigation shows that Turner walked up to a vehicle in the parking lot and attacked a driver who was eating his food in his car, the sheriff’s office said. Turner continued striking the driver during the unprovoked attack before the driver grabbed a gun in his vehicle and fired one shot, striking Turner, according to authorities…
Daniel Dahm, “Man shot, killed at Brevard McDonald’s after attacking driver over mistaken identity, deputies say,” Click Orlando, December 12, 2022.
Humble, TX, December 11, 2022 (Click 2 Houston)
A teenager is dead and another is injured after being shot while trying to rob a man in north Harris County Sunday, Harris County sheriff’s deputies.
According to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman, the shooting took place in the 19800 block of Kenswick Drive around 5 p.m…
Harris County Sheriff’s Office homicide investigators who also responded to the scene said that it was determined both teens were attempting to rob a man who was exiting the convenience store at the location. Deputies said the man’s friend saw what was happening and came to his assistance, shooting both suspects.
Deputies said the man that was being robbed and his friend that helped him cooperated with investigators.
No charges are being filed at this time and the case will be referred over to a grand jury upon its conclusion, HCSO said.
Moriah Ballard and Erica Ponder, “1 teen killed, another injured after trying to rob man while he was leaving store in north Harris County: HCSO,” Click 2 Houston, December 11, 2022.
Eastpointe, MI, December 13, 2022 (Fox 2 Detroit)
According to police, Currie and at least one other suspect tried to steal a 2022 Dodge Charger Hellcat from a man as he was parking it in his driveway on Hayes Street around 12:30 Tuesday morning.
But the car’s owner had a CPL and fought back to protect his property. The suspects and owner shot at each other before the suspect drove away in a stolen Chevy Impala…
Fox 2 Staff, “Man tries to carjack Charger Hellcat, gets shot by owner – police say,” Fox 2 Detroit, December 15, 2022.
Chandler, AZ, December 14, 2022 (Arizona’s Family)
According to Chandler Police Sgt. Jason McClimans, Jacob Murphy had jealousy issues over his girlfriend and went to the Amazon Fulfillment Center on the southeast corner of McQueen and Queen Creek roads on Wednesday. However, the woman wasn’t working that day, and Murphy planned to confront an Amazon worker he only knew by name. That’s when another man, who didn’t know Murphy, felt something was off about Murphy and tried to get him to leave the parking lot. That’s when Murphy shot the victim multiple times, McClimans said.
An unidentified third man saw the shooting and opened fire on Murphy. Between the two shooters, 10 rounds were fired, McClimans said. When first responders arrived, Murphy was dead. McClimans confirmed on Friday he died due to shooting himself and being shot by the third man. Initially, detectives weren’t sure how Murphy died. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he remains as of Friday afternoon. He’s expected to survive, McClimans said. His name hasn’t been released…
David Baker, “PD: Suspect in deadly shooting went to Chandler Amazon facility due to jealousy over girlfriend,” Arizona’s Family, December 16, 2022.
Chicago Ridge, IL, December 15, 2022 (WGNTV, CBS News)
Two people were shot outside a Buffalo Wild Wings in Chicago Ridge Thursday night…
According to police, three people approached a man and his girlfriend and attempted to get into their car. The man, a concealed carry permit holder, fired shots at them.
One of the people who approached the couple was arrested and charged with battery, according to police.
After an investigation, police said no charges would be filed in connection with the shots fired.
Neshmia Malik and Andrew Smith, “Two shot at Buffalo Wild Wings in Chicago Ridge,” WGNTV, December 16, 2022.
Elyssa Kaufman, “Shots fired outside Buffalo Wild Wings at Chicago Ridge Mall,” CBS News, December 16, 2022.
Rockford, IL, December 17, 2022 (Mystateline.com)
According to Rockford Police, around 12:25 a.m. suspects of a gray sedan robbed the driver of a blue SUV at the gas station, located at 2211 Charles Street.
A female passenger of the SUV got out and fired toward the robbers, and then both vehicles fled the area, police said…
John Clark, “Woman shoots, wounds robbery suspect at Rockford Stop-N-Go,” Mystateline.com, December 19, 2022.
Elkrun Township, OH, December 17, 2022 (WFMJ)
The Sheriff says deputies found that the man, later identified as Robert Harris, and a woman were arguing in a Jeep when another man drove up in a truck to pick up the woman.
Deputies say the man who showed up had a two-year-old child with him and that he put the child in the house with his wife before attempting to leave and take the woman back home.
The Sheriff says the Jeep began ramming the pickup truck until it was run off the road into a wooded area, and both men pulled guns and exchanged gunfire.
Deputies say Harris fired shots first, with the passerby returning fire, hitting Harris in the torso multiple times, killing him. The driver of the pickup truck wasn’t injured.
At this time, deputies say no charges are expected to be filed against the passerby due to the act being viewed as self-defense…
Mike Gauntner and Zach Mosca, “UPDATE: Deputies believe shooting in Elkrun Township was self-defense, no charges expected,” WFMJ, December 19, 2022.
Tucson, AZ, December 18, 2022 (KVOA)
A shooting at a bar on Tucson’s west side Sunday was initially reported by multiple media outlets as a “bar fight”, but Famous Sam’s owner Mark Rhude said it was a much different situation that could have been more serious.
Speaking exclusively with News 4 Tucson, Rhude said it was an active shooter situation stopped short by a heroic customer with a gun.
Rhude wasn’t at work at the time but based on his staff’s account of what happened he said a man at the bar began hurling racial slurs and talking about violence…
Staff was able to get the man to leave but about an hour or so later, just after 6 p.m. on Sunday, the man returned with a rifle and fired a shot into the ceiling…
But then two customers stepped in to try and convince him to drop the weapon. One of those customers was armed with a gun of their own.
“He [the customer] then said drop your gun to the bad guy three times and bad guy wouldn’t and he leveled it right at the guy and our customer here, he shot him, apparently three times,” Rhude said…
Rhude doesn’t encourage people to bring guns into his business but said he’s thankful the customer was there.
“He was a hero and I appreciate what he did because he saved you know other customers and our employees, so yeah unfortunate situation but he did good,” Rhude explained.
Chorus Nylander, “Tucson bar owner says shooting was self-defense against armed man,” KVOA, December 19, 2022.
Conway, SC, December 22, 2022 (WMBF)
Police were called to the Waffle House along Highway 544 near Singleton Ridge Road for an assault with possible shots fired.
Officers interviewed the employee along with several other witnesses who said that two men ran inside and jumped over the counter.
One of the men hit the worker from behind by punching him in the head and pushing him into some objects, while the other man stood by while holding a gun, the report states.
The incident report went on to show that the employee armed himself with his gun and ran the two men off.
When the victim got to the doorway the two men opened fire and the victim returned fire, the report states.
WMBF News Staff, “Report: Waffle House employee in Conway area fights off intruders with his own gun,” WMBF, December 29, 2022.
Detroit, MI, December 26, 2022 (FOX 2)
Police said the truck driver was meeting with the suspect to buy a junk car in the area of 7 Mile and Kelly when he was ambushed around 9:35 a.m. The driver, who is a CPL holder, pulled out a gun and fatally shot the suspect.
While the shooting remains under investigation, Detroit police said it appears it was self-defense.
Jessica Dupnack and Amber Ainsworth, “Suspect shot, killed while trying to rob Detroit tow truck driver who has CPL,” FOX 2, December 26, 2022.
Buffalo, NY, December 26, 2022 (New York Post)
A Buffalo looter made off with nothing but his life after a man took up arms to defend his neighborhood.
The ransacker had tried to break into one of the Pine Hill storefronts on Bailey Avenue when the civil soldier chased the would-be thief away, according to shocking video posted on Twitter Monday.
The clips show a group of people, some carrying brooms and sticks, running through the Skys the Limit Hair & Beauty parking lot after the looter.
People can then be heard screaming as they realize one of the men is carrying a gun…
He fires off two shots at an off-camera target…
“That was one of the neighbors that probably had business in the area,” the manager, who asked to remain anonymous, speculated.
“As far as I know, he shot in the air to scare them off. Because I guess he was sick of them breaking into one of the businesses across the street or something. He just don’t want them to break anything anymore.”…
Katherine Donlevy, “Video shows local opening fire on looter in Buffalo blizzard,” New York Post, December 28, 2022.
Memphis, TN, December 27, 2022 (FOX 13 Memphis, Action News 5)
A man and woman were taken to a hospital in critical condition Tuesday after a shooting outside a restaurant at Poplar Avenue and International Place in East Memphis, police said…
The victim told the Memphis Police Department they were leaving Big Bad Breakfast trying to get in his car but had problems unlocking the door.
As he tried to open the door, he noticed a man getting out of another car with a handgun, said police.
MPD says the suspect began shooting at the victim, and the victim returned fire with his gun…
Daniel Wilkerson, “Couple gets in shootout with would-be car thieves outside East Memphis restaurant,” FOX 13 Memphis, December 27, 2022.
Jacob Gallant, “2 injured after shootout in East Memphis,” Action News 5, December 27, 2022.
Houston, TX, December 29, 2022 (ABC 13)
Houston Police Department officers responded to a shooting call at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday at the Family Dollar at 2714 Reed Road near Highway 288.
The mother came out to find the woman inside her car and confronted her to try to get her to leave, according to HPD.
When the woman refused to get out, the mother allegedly took out a pistol from her purse and shot her.
Police said that’s when the fight ended, and the woman got out of the car and walked into the store to seek help…
ABC 13 Staff, “Mom shoots stranger who broke into her car with her kids inside during Family Dollar run, HPD says,” ABC 13, December 30, 2022.
Houston, TX, December 29, 2022 (ABC 13)
Deputies believe a shooting that left someone injured in northwest Harris County took place during an attempted car burglary.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it has been investigating the shooting in the area of Highway 249/Tomball Parkway and Antoine Drive on Thursday night.
Investigators said a car’s owner was inside a check-cashing place when he saw someone driving away in his vehicle. The victim, who was armed, ran out and started shooting at the thief.
The suspect then took off across Highway 249 and ran right into a deputy, ABC13 learned. The suspect, who was shot in his leg, surrendered. The armed victim also put down his gun and put his hands up…
Jessica Willey, “Car owner opens fire at person trying to take vehicle, deputies say,” ABC 13, December 29, 2022.
Dallas, TX, December 30, 2022 (NBCDFW)
An attempted carjacking rattled nerves at a crowded shopping center on the edge of the Park Cities Friday night.
It was just before 6:30 that witnesses dining in Odelay near the Dallas North Tollway and Lovers Lane say several shots rang out…
Gleason, who has a permit to carry, said he pulled his gun as others fled towards the kitchen or dove under dining tables.
Outside, Dallas Police say three suspects attempted to carjack a man witnesses say had just left the restaurant.
Witnesses say another person, who police haven’t identified, shot one suspect…
Allie Spillyards, “Attempted Carjacking Turned Shooting Rattles Diners in Busy Shopping Center,” NBCDFW, December 30, 2022.
San Antonio, TX, December 31, 2022 (News 4 San Antonio)
The San Antonio Police Department says the shooting happened around 8 a.m. at a Walmart near Rigsby and Loop 410 on San Antonio’s Southeast Side.
According to authorities, a man was getting into his black truck when a suspect tried to hijack his vehicle. The victim pushed the suspect and took off from the parking lot.
That’s when the suspect started following the victim and began shooting at his truck on I-37. Police believe that both the victim and the suspect were shooting at each other.
The victim called for help on the interstate after he was shot in both of his legs. The victim tried to take himself to the hospital but the tire had been blown out. The suspect has yet to be found…
SBG San Antonio Staff, “Man gunned down after fleeing carjacking suspect,” News 4 San Antonio, December 31, 2022.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out, television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s show NCIS Los Angeles is no different (Season 14, Episode 10, January 9, 2023). This episode shows terrorists using machine guns and flash grenades.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14, Episode 10, January 9, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 10): Episode 11, January 11, 2023
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1, Episode 13, February 21, 2023.
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023
CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (Season 14): Episode 10, January 9, 2023, Episode 11, January 15, 2023..
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has pointed out many times, television crime shows seem to think criminals are constantly using machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s S.W.A.T. is no different (Season 6, Episode 13, February 10, 2023). This episode shows criminals firing machine guns at a groundbreaking celebration to start a new construction project.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6, Episode 13, February 10, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1,
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 6): Episode 13, February 10, 2023
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
Dr. John Lott talked to Michael Schwartz and Dave Stall on AM 1170 / FM 96.1 in San Diego for three segments about a wide range of topics: the misinformation and media bias on guns and gun violence; the gun ownership and crime rates in Mexico and the United States; the statistics on concealed carry permit holders across the United States; California’s SB2, which places limits on where people can carry a gun in public in wake of mass shootings; the errors in the FBI’s Active Shooting Reports, etc.
(Sunday, February 12, 2023, from 4:15 to 4:56 PM PST)
The Crime Prevention Research Center’s Nikki Goeser testified before the Connecticut Joint Judiciary Committee on gun-free zones in restaurants that serve alcohol and safe storage.
Monday, March 6, 2023
“Ghost guns” are homemade guns. It is already illegal to sell these guns because they don’t have serial numbers. Guns are pretty simple items to build. You can build a shotgun with a few pipes and a nail. Requiring background checks on all parts of guns has been one of the goals of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown.
Once again Bloomberg’s gun control organizations could have written a recent episode of CBS’s NCIS Los Angeles (indeed, it probably was) (Season 14, Episode 11, January 15, 2023). But the notion that these regulations will stop criminals from getting guns is a fantasy. The show would have you believe that creating a registry of all guns’ rifling patterns is important in solving crime. New York and Maryland tried this, spending many tens of millions of dollars over decades, but they couldn’t point to a single crime they had been able to solve. Gun control advocates claimed that 15 years for Maryland’s system just wasn’t long enough to show benefits. Having background checks on all the parts of guns is also seen as important to create a national gun registry, but again registries have never been useful in solving crime.
Gun control advocates push for these background checks not because they believe they will reduce crime but just to make it costly for people to buy guns.
Not only are there already ways for criminals to get guns, such as drug dealers. It is just as difficult to stop criminals from getting guns to stop them from buying illegal drugs. The same source provides both items. In addition, technology is advancing to make it extremely difficult to stop criminals from getting guns, and the regulations are more likely to stop law-abiding citizens than criminals.
NCIS Los Angeles Season 14, Episode 11, January 15, 2023
The Crime Prevention Research Center hired McLaughlin & Associates to survey people’s views on universal background checks. We started with the standard question asked by survey groups such as Gallup and Morning Consult+Politico, and they added details about these laws that are left out of these surveys.
State Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, invited Dr. John Lott and Nikki Goeser to testify before the Michigan state Senate Judiciary Committee. Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, testified about her concerns with red flag laws and how gun-control laws can have unintended consequences that can impact good people. Dr. John Lott provided statistics to show that the proposed gun control laws could lead to more deaths, not fewer.
(Thursday, March 2, 2023)
How common was it for people to carry guns back in the late 1800s in Europe?
“So guns seem more important than tickets.”
Dr. John Lott talked to Alan Stock on KXNT-AM’s Vegas @ 8 about Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics on Democrats’ push on even more gun control laws, which may create fertile ground for successful mass public shootings.
(Thursday, February 9, 2023, from 8:35 to 8:47 AM PST)
Dr. John Lott was on KZRG Morning News Watch with Peter Thiele, Ted Bojorquez, and Steve Scott to discuss his new piece at Real Clear Politics titled “MSU Shooting: The Blame Game.” Michigan laws should have prevented the gunman from legally owning a gun if a Democrat D.A. did not dismiss his felony gun charge in 2019.
(Thursday, February 23, 2023, from 8:09 to 8:18 AM EST)
Dr. John Lott appeared on Larry Connors USA radio to discuss many gun control myths, for example, a two-hour class on how to properly store a gun is all to derail individuals from getting a gun. They also discussed Democrats’ push on gun control after the Michigan State University shooting, despite the fact that the gunman would have been barred from owning a firearm at the time of the shooting if he would have been convicted of a prior felony gun charge dismissed by a Democrat D.A.
(Thursday, February 16, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at The Federalist.
The Anti-Defamation League and much of the corporate media are intent on construing any racist as a conservative right-winger — but it’s not true.
Relying on a new report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), news headlines claim: “All 25 U.S. extremism-related murders last year were linked to right-wing extremists.” The report received wide, uncritical coverage from outlets in the U.S. such as the Associated Press and worldwide in Canada, the United Kingdom, and India. But the ADL’s report is fatally flawed. It assumes that every racist is automatically a “right-winger.”
For example, 10 of the 25 extremist murders last year were by Payton Gendron in Buffalo. But he was anything but a “right-winger.” The Buffalo killer was yet another mass murderer motivated by environmentalism.
In his writeup explaining this attack, the Buffalo mass murderer labeled himself an “eco-fascist national socialist” and a part of the “mild-moderate authoritarian left.” He worried minorities have too many children and that damages the environment. “The invaders are the ones overpopulating the world,” he claimed. “Kill the invaders, kill the overpopulation and by doing so save the environment.”
Gendron hated capitalists, whom he believed were destroying the environment and were at the root of much of the problem.
Overpopulation is hardly a core conservative issue. When did you hear a conservative politician calling on people to have fewer children? And while some Republicans support limiting international trade, it’s not for environmental reasons.
Left-Wing Killers
Anderson Lee Aldrich in Colorado Springs accounted for five more of these 25 murders. His attack occurred at an LGBTQ+ bar. The ADL report notes that he hosted a “white supremacist” website, which people falsely identify as “right-wing,” but the report conveniently leaves out that the murderer is nonbinary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them,” hardly something done by most conservatives.
All the other 10 murderers were criminals who killed one person each. While some of them were “white supremacists,” again, that doesn’t make them “right-wing.” One of the murderers may have been right-wing, but ADL says it doesn’t count that murder as “ideological,” and it was a husband killing his wife. Another was in the midst of a family dispute. In another case, a man allegedly involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot appears to have killed a woman while trying to commit suicide. And then one murder was clearly directed at left-wingers.
Unfortunately, the ADL has made a habit of misclassifying these murderers. Another notable example in 2019 was the El Paso Walmart mass murderer Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 of the 49 people that the ADL classifies as murdered by “extremists” that year. The New York Times and other news outlets may describe the El Paso murderer as having “echoed the incendiary words of conservative media stars” who have spoken out against illegal immigration, but his anti-immigrant views were rooted in his environmentalist beliefs and were identical to those of the Buffalo murderer’s.
For example, he wrote in his manifesto: “The decimation of the environment is creating a massive burden for future generations. … The next logical step is to decrease the number of people in America using resources. If we can get rid of enough people, then our way of life can become more sustainable.” He blamed companies for destroying the environment: “Corporations … also like immigration because more people means a bigger market for their products.” And he explicitly disassociated himself from President Donald Trump.
Both Crusius and Gendron made minorities their principal target. But they’ve done so out of a crazy environmentalist determination to reduce the human population by whatever means necessary. This echoes politicians on the left, not the right.
Media Silent on the Environmentalist Connection
The corporate media and politicians who constantly warn about the world’s imminent end can’t bring themselves to acknowledge the environmentalist connection, even though climate activists time and again agree that overpopulation is part of the problem. “It does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK to still have children?” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2019. She also warned that the “world will end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.”
Similarly, President Joe Biden fans the flames of alarmism when he claims that “climate change poses an existential threat to our lives. … This is code red.”
The Crime Prevention Research Center, of which I am the head, tracked 82 mass public shootings from January 1998 to May 2021, and it found only seven have known or alleged ties to any of the following: white supremacists, neo-Nazis, or anti-immigrant views. While there is a push by Biden and others to make the right seem like a threat to public safety, 73 percent of mass public shooters have no identifiable political views.
The Anti-Defamation League and much of the corporate media are intent on construing any racist as a conservative right-winger. But they aren’t. And if there’s any ideological cause that is sparking violence, it’s environmental and socialist extremism.
John R. Lott, Jr., “If There’s A Theme To Extremism-Related Murders, It’s Environmentalism,” The Federalist,
Dr. John Lott appeared on WDRC’s Morning with Gary Byron in Connecticut to discuss gun-free zones and Connecticut’s assault weapon ban.
(Monday, January 30, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about the MSU gunman’s felony weapon charge dropped in 2019, and the blame from Michael Bloomberg’s Groups on John Lott for Mass Public Shootings in the United States.
(Monday, February 20, 2023, from 5:05 to 5:21 PM EST)
Vicki’s show covers most of Wisconsin and part of the Minneapolis area in Minnesota (WISN, WIBA, WMEQ).
Dr. John Lott was interviewed by America’s 1st Freedom’s Frank Miniter.
The gun-control groups find the research from John Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, so inconvenient to their ambitions that they’ve spent years doing all they can to disparage, delegitimize and cancel him.
So we thought we’d ask him about it.
In this interview, he explains why gun-control groups, and so many in today’s mainstream media, call him a “debunked researcher” and “gun-rights advocate,” as if he’s an activist, not a serious economist and researcher.
Lott then explains why the data he digs up scares gun-control groups so much—hint: the truth pulls the fake floor out of their entire agenda.
Lott then gives the details on his latest research on concealed-carry and he details surprising numbers on how often armed citizens actually stop bad guys.
Frank Miniter, “Why the Gun-Control Crowd Loathes John Lott,” America’s 1st Freedom, February 15, 2023.
These costs are in addition to the 16 hours that you are required to take for the training class. The ability to carry seems limited to only the wealthy. Hat tip Rob Romano.
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, talked to Kim Monson on Denver’s KLZ-560 AM explaining why victims’ gun rights are important. She shared her own experience of being a target of a deadly stalker and how criminals’ rights have been protected at the expense of victims. See also Nikki’s book “Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband In Front Of Me.”
(Tuesday, February 7, 2023, from 7:16 to 7:28 AM MST)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about the Michigan State University shooting. The gunman had a prior felony gun charge dismissed by a progressive prosecutor, but that didn’t stop the left from trying to blame a researcher who is only guilty of providing the empirical data.
(Friday, February 17, 2023, from 11:06 to 11:29 AM ET)
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has pointed out many times, television crime shows seem to think criminals are constantly using machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, CBS’s Blue Bloods is no different (Season 13, Episode 10, January 13, 2023). This episode shows criminals robbing a jewelry store using a machine gun.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 13, Episode 10, January 13, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1,
CBS’ Blue Bloods (Season 13): Episode 10, January 13, 2023
The Rookie (Season 5): Episode 10, January 3, 2023,
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
While Apple has provided some solutions to prevent AirTags from being used to stalk people, they either require you to have an iPhone or to hear a sound from the AirTag. The problem is that it isn’t a perfect solution.
A firm that has made wireless scanning devices for law enforcement has announced a version for consumers that can immediately detect AirTags, long before Apple’s anti-stalking features start sounding off.
Apple’s AirTags have highlighted the issue of stalking, and come in for valid criticism even as they’ve also lead to the arrest and jailing of stalkers. It’s true, though, that AirTags can take at least hours before a user gets a tracking alert on their iPhones.
It’s also true that Android users don’t get those alerts unless they already know to have downloaded an app. And furthermore, people are reselling AirTags with the chirping speaker removed for extra stealth. . . .
William Gallagher, “This new gadget can instantly find a hidden AirTag,” AppleInsider, February 23, 2023.
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, joined Pastor Greg on Chosen Generation Radio, which is heard on 50 stations across the country, to discuss the terrible laws that are causing victims of violent crimes to continually relive their experiences and to feel as though there is no justice. They also discussed the importance of the ability to defend yourself against these criminals and to use the Second Amendment to secure that right. See also Nikki’s op-ed at Fox News titled: “My stalker murdered my husband. Here’s how you can protect yourself.” Nikki’s book is available here.
(Wednesday, February 8, 2023)
The Anti-Defamation League has a new report titled: “Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2022.” They claim that all the murderers of the 25 people murdered by extremists in 2022 were “right-wingers,” which they describe as white supremacists, anti-government extremists, QAnon extremists, and other right-wing extremists. Their report has been getting extensive uncritical news coverage. In fact, most of these murders were committed by either an environmentalist or a nonbinary “socialist.” Are those the views of “right-wingers”? Our data is available here.
Payton Gendron in Buffalo and Anderson Lee Aldrich in Colorado Springs accounted for 15 of the 25 murders. Ten other people accounted for one murder each. The Buffalo murderer was racist, but the ADL believes that racists can only be right-wingers. He hated blacks because he thought that they had too many children, and that damaged the environment.
. . . the Buffalo killer was yet another mass murderer motivated by environmentalism.
In his manifesto, the Buffalo mass murderer self-identifies as an “eco-fascist national socialist” and a member of the “mild-moderate authoritarian left.” He expresses concern that minority immigrants have too many children and will damage the environment. “The invaders are the ones overpopulating the world,” he writes. “Kill the invaders, kill the overpopulation and by doing so save the environment.”
The murderer argues that capitalists are destroying the environment, and are at the root of much of the problem. “The trade of goods is to be discouraged at all costs,” he insists.
Overpopulation and the environment are hardly signature conservative issues. It’s certainly not something you’ll hear Donald Trump talk about at his rallies. And while some Republicans believe in limiting international trade, it’s certainly not for environmental reasons. . . .
John R. Lott, Jr., “The “Crazy, Right-Wing Shooter” Myth,” Real Clear Politics, December 6, 2022.
So how can Payton Gendron, who murdered 10 of the 25 people, be classified as a right-winger? Reclassifying just Gendron as a left-winger means at least 40% of these murders were by left-wingers.
The Colorado Springs murderer killed five people at a gay bar named “Club Q.” While he murdered gay people, he claims that he is nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and them, hardly something normally associated with right-wingers. He hosted a “neo Nazi white supremacist” website, which people identify as “right-wing,” but he identified himself as a “socialist.” Including Aldrich as a left-winger means that at least 60% of the murders were by left-wingers.
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, appeared on The Morning Show with Preston Scott based in Tallahassee, Florida to discuss the importance of constitutional carry by sharing her own experience of being a target of a deadly stalker. See also Nikki’s book “Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband In Front Of Me.”
(Wednesday, February 8, 2023)
A campus carry bill has passed the West Virginia legislature and is about to be signed by Gov. Jim Justice. The text of the bill is available here.
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“When this bill comes to me, it won’t be with me but for a matter of seconds, because I’ll sign it,” Gov. Jim Justice said. “It may very well be that we’ve got somebody on (a college) campus that has a firearm who, when something bad starts to happen, may save a bunch of lives. I really, truly believe that the people who have firearms and carry
John Mark Shaver, “West Virginia Gov. Justice to ‘proudly sign’ concealed campus carry bill,” WVNews.com, February 22, 2023.
Florida: This week, the Florida House and Senate Judiciary Committees passed Constitutional Carry bills. The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted 16-7 to approve the House version. The Florida Senate Judiciary Committee passed its version of the bill by a 5-to-3 vote. In contrast to the House bill, the Senate bill “includes school safety measures, such as expanding the school guardian program to allow private school staff to be armed, in addition to public and charter school guardians.”
South Carolina: Constitutional Carry is a little farther along in South Carolina. The Republican-dominated House passed the bill by a 90-to-30 vote. At least two Democrats must have voted for the bill, as Republicans have an 88-to-36 seat margin in the House.
Nebraska: Last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee wouldn’t pass their Constitutional Carry bill. This year was very different, with five votes in favor, zero votes against it, two abstentions, and one not voting. Amazingly, there were no votes against the bill. Both black Senators from Omaha, both of whom are Democrats, voted in favor of the bill.
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss the Michigan State University shooting. The gunman had a felony charge dropped by a liberal prosecutor in 2019, which could have barred him from legally owning a firearm. They also discussed the blame from Michael Bloomberg’s Groups on John Lott for Mass Public Shootings in the United States.
(Tuesday, February 21, 2023, from 5:30 to 5:39 PM EST)
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about his testimonies in Maryland and Vermont on gun control bills. Dr. Lott testified before the Maryland State Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on SB 1, which would turn the state into a gun-free zone (See Dr.Lott’s written testimony here). Dr. Lott also testified before the Vermont state Senate Judiciary Committee about SB 4, which would ban those under 21 years old from owning so-called “Assault Weapons” (See Dr.Lott’s written testimony here).
(Sunday, February 12, 2023, from 9:05 to 9:55 PM)
These mass shootings in other countries don’t get much news coverage in the US or the west. Here is an example of our earlier work (here, here, and here).
Brazil, February 22, 2023: Seven people were murdered in a Brazilian pool hall massacre.
. . . “The way it happened, it is clear that some victims may not even have been involved with the game that was taking place at the establishment,” Police Lt. Romening dos Santos Silva said, according to multiple media outlets.
Police say the shooters are Edgar Ricardo de Oliveira, 30, and Ezequias Souza Ribeiro, 27, and they are still on the run.
The men allegedly lost two consecutive games in Sinop City, in the state of Mato Grosso on Tuesday.
Graphic surveillance video from the scene showed one of the men line victims up against a wall at gunpoint while his companion grabbed a shotgun from a pickup truck.
Within a few seconds, the man with the pump-action shotgun began his terrifying assault, shooting people at point-blank range. He appeared to pick his targets one by one as the other man joined in with his handgun. . . .
Pilar Arias, “Seven killed in Brazilian pool hall massacre after losers mocked: video,” Fox News, February 23, 2023.
South Africa, January 28, 2023: Gunmen killed eight people and wounded three others at a birthday party in South Africa at the weekend before fleeing, police said.
South Africa, July 2023: Two separate mass public shootings conducted within hours of each other left 19 people dead.
— “Attackers armed with rifles and pistols opened fire in the Orlando East bar in the township of Soweto in the early hours of Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding nine, police said.“
— “Police confirmed a second apparently random shooting hours earlier, at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, in a tavern in Pietermaritzburg, 500 km southeast of Soweto, which saw four people killed and eight wounded.“
This week Dr. John Lott made a trip to Salt Lake City to be interviewed for a documentary on defensive gun uses and media bias on the issue. He was also able to meet with and have dinner with members of the Utah state legislature. Those at the dinner include Senator John Johnson (who was a graduate student at Texas A&M University when Lott was on the faculty there), Representative Tim Jimenez, Representative Trevor Lee, and Clark Aposhian and Bill Pedersen with the Utah Shooting Sports Council.
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about the expanded gun rights in the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects a person’s right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s latest article at Real Clear Politics titled “Gun Control Laws Backfiring in California.”
(Sunday, February 5, 2023, from 9:35 to 9:55 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on America’s Voice Live about the latest shooting at Michigan State University and Democrats’ push for stronger gun laws. This discussion is related to Lott’s piece at Real Clear Politics titled: “MSU Shooting: The Blame Game.”
(Tuesday, February 14, 2023)
Wyoming, MI, November 1, 2022 (WOOD TV)
The attempted robbery happened around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at Olympic Market on S. Division Avenue between 35th and Wexford streets. Wyoming Department of Public Safety Lt. Rory Allen said the three people tried a “takeover robbery” at the store — essentially, trying to physically overwhelm the shopkeepers with force or numbers.
The clerk, who was the only person in the store, was surrounded and fought back, Allen said. The clerk ultimately pulled a handgun and fired one shot. The 15-year-old was hit in the chest…
Allen said the clerk, who was not injured, is cooperating with investigators. He owned the handgun legally and had a license to carry it…
Rachel Van Gilder, “Police: Clerk shot 15-year-old in ‘takeover robbery’ attempt,” WOOD TV, November 2, 2022.
Mobile, AL, November 1, 2022 (WKRG)
According to officers, three victims and two suspects were shot during the incident. Officers said they were called to the 8000 block of Zeigler Boulevard, near Glenn Acres and the Zeigler Boulevard and Shillinger Road intersection in regards to a shooting.
When officers arrived, they found three victims who had been shot inside a vehicle. The victims told officers they were approached by two people who were armed and demanded the victim’s things. The two subjects began firing in the air, which is when one of the victims shot at the two. The two subjects then shot the three victims and the car multiple times. The subjects ran from the scene before officers arrived. The victims were transported to the hospital but had no life-threatening injuries…
Summer Poole, “5 people shot in Zeigler Blvd attempted robbery: Mobile Police,” WKRG, November 2, 2022.
St. Paul, MN, November 1, 2022 (Star Tribune)
Deandre L. Buckner, 28, of St. Paul, died shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday off Payne Avenue on the western edge of the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood, police said.
A 20-year-old man was quickly arrested near the shooting scene on suspicion of murder.
However, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said in a statement late Friday afternoon that “we declined to file charges in this incident due to facts uncovered in the police investigation that strongly support a self-defense and defense-of-others claim by the person who fired the fatal shot.”…
Paul Walsh, “Prosecutors cite self defense, won’t charge man in fatal shooting this week in St. Paul,” Star Tribune, November 4, 2022.
St. Louis, MO, November 2, 2022 (KMOV)
Around 11 a.m. neighbors said they heard several rounds of gunshots and then heard a woman screaming. Police confirmed the woman’s downstairs neighbor shot her in the leg. He then barricaded himself in his unit forcing the SWAT team and negotiators to come out…
Ward and another neighbor said if it wasn’t for a Good Samaritan down the street, with a weapon, they don’t know if the woman victim would’ve been okay.
“I will certainly never forget seeing. It’s like a real-life hero in action. Very responsible gun owner, did everything right. I saw him creeping down the street. He was just wanting to keep everyone safe,” the neighbor explained.
YoVan Young, who works for First Choice Heating and Cooling, was working a job about a block from where this shooting happened. He said he had his gun on him and his first reaction when he heard the victim screaming for help, was to head that way…
Young said he ran over to the victim and helped her get behind a car for safety because the suspect was still shooting. Young said he fired some warning shots at the suspect, took his belt off, and used it as a tourniquet on the victim’s leg to slow her bleeding down…
Jenna Rae, “Good Samaritan saves South St. Louis woman after being shot by her neighbor,” KMOV, November 3, 2022.
Chicago, IL, November 5, 2022 (CWB Chicago)
The stakeout of the business in the 300 block of East 69th Street paid off around 3:26 a.m. Saturday, when the employees saw someone cut a hole in the perimeter fence and crawl onto the property, prosecutor Kenneth Flesch said.
Several employees watched as the intruder grabbed a tire rim from the property. Then, they moved in and confronted the man, identified as George Perkins.
Perkins swung a crowbar at three of the employees, prompting one to pull out a gun and fire shots into the air, Flesch said. But at least one of the bullets went somewhere else — into Perkins’ shoulder…
The employee who shot Perkins said he fired into the air because Perkins was resisting, Flesch said, but the employee was long gone when police arrived, and no charges have been filed against him…
CWB Chicago Staff, “Business employees shot an early morning burglar, then waited more than 2 hours for Chicago police to show up: prosecutors,” CWB Chicago, November 6, 2022.
Newberry, FL, November 9, 2022 (My CBS 4)
The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office says they do not plan to charge a person who shot and killed their neighbor.
A spokesperson says the shooting happened after a dispute between two neighbors, but they believe the shooter acted in self defense.
The Sheriff’s Office says this happened around 9:30 Wednesday morning on Southwest 87th Avenue in Newberry.
The Sheriff’s Office says the person fired at their neighbor after being assaulted.
Aaron Adelson, “Fatal shooting in Alachua County believed to be self defense, Sheriff’s Office says,” My CBS 4, November 9, 2022.
Topeka, KS, November 11, 2022 (Topeka Capital-Journal, 13 WIBW)
Dustin E. Oats, 42, was fatally shot on November 11 at S.W. 29th and Villa West Drive. The case is listed as apparently being justifiable.
According to TPD, officers were dispatched to 29th and Villa West Drive at 5:43 p.m., and upon arrival, they located a man with a life-threatening gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital where he was later pronounced deceased…
Officials also said upon completion of the case, it will be sent to the DA’s office with the possibility of self-defense consideration in this incident.
Alex Carter, “1 killed in SW Topeka shooting,” 13 WIBW, November 11, 2022.
Philadelphia, PA, November 11, 2022 (6 ABC)
It happened at 5:30 a.m. in the 3900 block of Coral Street in the city’s Port Richmond section.
Sources tell Action News the driver was stopped at that location when he was held up by an armed man.
The driver, who has a license to carry, fired on the suspect who then ran off.
Police found the suspect a few blocks away…
6 ABC Digital Staff, “Uber driver turns tables on attempted robber in Port Richmond,” 6 ABC, November 12, 2022.
Gonzales, TX, November 11, 2022 (The Gonzales Inquirer)
Lt. Jason Montoya of the Gonzales Police Department said at about 7:11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11, GPD officers responded to Walmart, 1114 E. Sarah DeWitt Drive, regarding a call about shots fired. Upon arrival, officers made contact with a male complainant who said another man whose identity he knew pulled a firearm and pointed it at him, stating, “I am going to kill you.”
The complainant advised police he drew his weapon and fired at the subject, but at that time, it was not known whether anyone had been struck by a bullet…
Surveillance video appears to support the complainant’s and witnesses’ statements. Following his release from the hospital, Nicoletti was arrested early Sunday morning in Shiner and transported to the Gonzales County Jail. His bond was set at $250,000. The name of the individual who fired the gun has not yet been released and no charges have been announced against him yet.
Lew K. Cohn, “Shiner man arrested after Walmart shooting incident,” The Gonzales Inquirer, November 13, 2022.
Seattle, WA, November 11, 2022 (Local 12)
A young woman made two harrowing attempts to escape a violent pimp — including jumping out a third-story window — before being rescued by a ride-share driver who engaged in a gunfight with the man, prosecutors in Seattle said…
“H.A. felt safer in the middle of a busy highway, practically naked, at night than being within arm’s reach of the defendant,” Gauen wrote. “Surveillance video from a nearby business has corroborated H.A.’s account of what happened.”
The ride-share driver stopped and told H.A. to get in his van. Burt pursued them, shooting at the van, Gauen wrote. The ride-share driver was also armed and fired back over several blocks until he was able to get onto Interstate 5 and meet police at a gas station. No one appears to have been struck by the bullets, but the van’s windshield was riddled with holes.
Police arrested Burt as he was leaving the rental home with the other women, the documents said. He faces charges that include human trafficking, promoting prostitution, assault and drive-by shooting, but given the “expansive reach of the defendant’s egregious behavior,” additional charges are likely, Gauen wrote…
Gene Johnson, “Police: Ride-share driver gets into shootout with pimp while saving trafficking victim,” Local 12, November 13, 2022.
Ardmore, AL, November 14, 2022 (WAAY 31 ABC)
A man suspected in two Monday night robberies was shot and killed by a witness, according to the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office.
James Lee Henry, 53, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, is accused of robbing a Circle K in Athens before heading to a service station in Ardmore and ordering the clerk to give him money at gunpoint.
According to the sheriff’s office, “a Good Samaritan (former U.S. Marine), legally armed with his personal protection weapon, observed the robbery outside the front door. Upon Henry exiting the store, the Good Samaritan gave several verbal commands for Henry to drop his gun; however, Henry did not comply. Instead, Henry pointed his weapon at the Good Samaritan and, upon doing so, was immediately shot.”…
Citizens in Ardmore are thankful for the veteran’s quick actions. One worker at a nearby restaurant told WAAY 31 that he feels safe knowing people can use their right to bear arms to protect others…
Josh Rayburn and Nicole Zedeck, “Former Marine shoots, kills man suspected of two Limestone County robberies,” WAAY 31 ABC, November 15, 2022.
Tucker, GA, November 15, 2022 (WSB-TV)
Police say two people were shot inside a moving company warehouse in DeKalb County Tuesday afternoon…
Investigators say a 38-year-old man and his 22-year-old employee, Cameron Randle, were arguing about money.
During the argument, Randle pulled out a gun and shot his boss. The older man then pulled out a gun and returned fire, striking Randle…
Detectives say once released from the hospital, Randle will be charged with aggravated assault. They determined the 38-year-old man’s actions in returning fire was justified and will not be charging him…
Sophia Choi, “Shootout over money leaves 2 injured at DeKalb furniture moving warehouse, police say,” WSB-TV, November 15, 2022.
Dayton, OH, November 18, 2022 (Dayton 247 Now)
Crews were called to the scene of 3100 block of Valerie Arms Drive at 12:46 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck told Dayton 24/7 Now that the victim was inside his residence, when he heard what he believed to be a saw on metal outside of his home.
“He had been a victim before of catalytic converter crime, he exited his residence, came out and confronted someone who had sawed off his catalytic converter. When he confronted that individual he told them to stop, and that he was going to call the police,” said Sheriff Streck.
At that point, the victim was approached and attacked by the suspect.
“During the fight, there was a gunshot where the suspect was shot in the leg with non-life threatening injuries, he was removed to a local hospital. Our victim is still on the scene cooperating with authorities 100% and obviously we’re still at the beginning of this investigation,” said Sheriff Streck.
Sheriff Streck says that his office is investigating the shooting as a self-defense incident…
Lydia Bice, “Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office investigating shooting on Valerie Arms Drive,” Dayton 247 Now, November 18, 2022.
Chicago, IL, November 23, 2022 (WGN-TV)
A woman shot a man in the head, who was attempting to get in her car, early Wednesday morning on the South Side — according to Chicago police.
Just before 2:10 a.m., police said four male suspects exited a black sedan in the 1300 block of East 89th Street and one of them attempted to open another vehicle armed with a handgun.
The driver, a 23-year-old woman and valid concealed carry holder, fired a shot striking the man in the head. Police said she then fled from her vehicle on foot and was shot in the left arm…
Andy Koval, “CPD: Woman shoots man attempting to get in her car on South Side,” WGN-TV, November 23, 2022.
Atlanta, GA, November 23, 2022 (WSB-TV)
Atlanta police said the shooting occurred at 588 Trabert Avenue NW outside of Super Sound Studios, which is owned by Atlanta rapper and actor T.I.
Police said one of the property owners saw two men with guns trespassing on the studio’s property. The property owner confronted them and the confrontation escalated.
The property owner and two men began firing at each other. One of the suspect was shot in the leg. Police said the man was alive, conscious and breathing and he was taken to the hospital…
WSBTV.com News Staff, “Man shot outside recording studio owned by T.I., police say,” WSB-TV, November 23, 2022.
Jackson, TN, November 23, 2022 (WBBJ TV)
On Monday, the department stated that 29-year-old John Eric Henderson, Jr. was shot by another person on November 23 near Old Humboldt Road near Jeremiah Drive.
Police say through video “that captured elements” of the incident, it was found that the shooting was self-defense…
Last week, Jackson police reported that the shooting originally started as a road rage incident on Passmore Lane near the Highway 45 Bypass.
Those involved continued northbound on Old Humboldt Road, leading to a verbal altercation and to shots being fired.
Tristyn Stoop, “JPD: Northwest Jackson shooting was self-defense,” WBBJ TV, November 28, 2022.
Theodore, AL, November 25, 2022 (Fox News)
A pair of Alabama shoplifting suspects were booked into jail after they allegedly tried to steal merchandise from a Tractor Supply Co. store but were subdued when customers intervened, including one who opened fire on the getaway car…
The scene unfolded before 9 a.m. on Black Friday in the town of Theodore, a few miles south of Mobile, when suspects Troy Brown and Toby Priest allegedly attempted to steal expensive merchandise from the agriculture and hardware store, according to the outlet…
The car wasn’t able to go far, however, due to a different customer pulling out a firearm and shooting out one of the getaway car’s tires…
The car was later found abandoned with at least one flat tire on U.S. Highway 90, according to WPMI…
Emma Colton, “Alabama Tractor Supply customers thwart alleged shoplifters, open fire on getaway car’s tires,” Fox News, November 29, 2022.
Midland, TX, November 26, 2022 (News West 9)
At about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, November 26, 2022, officers with the Midland Police Department were dispatched to the DK Convenience Store in the 5800 block of W. Interstate 20 in reference to shots fired…
During the investigation, it was discovered that Galindo fired his gun at two males, one of which returned fire in self-defense, striking Galindo…
Marcus Risen, “MPD responds to shooting Saturday night,” News West 9, November 27, 2022.
Raleigh, NC, November 27, 2022 (Fox 8)
An adult male was shot on Sunday night shortly after 7:20 near the Regal movie theater at North Hills.
Officers said the victim, who was the shooter’s son, was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police also said the shooting was an isolated incident, as the suspect and victim knew each other…
The suspect also said he did not want to shoot the victim but “he started assaulting me and my wife.”
As of Wednesday, the suspect has not been identified and no one has been arrested.
The caller added to police that he believed his son was having a mental health episode.
Chloe Rafferty, Kathryn Hubbard, Kayla Morton, and Rodney Overton, “‘I just shot him’: 911 call details weekend shooting at North Carolina mall,” Fox 8, December 1, 2022.
Billings, MT, November 30, 2022 (KTVQ)
Brusard is charged for a Nov. 30 incident outside the Montana Club restaurant that ended in gunfire.
Prosecutors allege Brusard was a customer at the restaurant when he began yelling and threatening others near the restaurant entrance. A witness said Brusard retrieved a handgun from a vehicle and threatened to shoot when another customer shot Brusard in the chest.
The person who shot Brusard has only been identified in court records by the initials R.P. That person has not been charged.
Q2 News Staff, “Bond set at 20K for man shot outside Billings restaurant,” KTVQ, December 8, 2022.
Dr. John Lott has a new piece up at The Federalist.
Red-flag laws do nothing but put innocent people at risk and make it easier to disarm opponents for political purposes.
If a person is really a danger to himself or others, confiscating guns isn’t much of a solution. There are so many other ways for disturbed people to cause harm. But advocates of “red flag” laws want people to believe that simply taking away someone’s legally-owned guns means the problem is solved.
Last week, the Biden administration announced it was using part of the $1.8 trillion massive spending bill passed after last year’s election to give $231 million to states that enact red-flag laws and push other gun-control policies. After last week’s mass public shooting at Michigan State University, gun-control advocates from Michael Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action were again touting red-flag laws as the solution. Michigan legislators also see the attack as a chance to pass the law.
The law doesn’t respect the right to due process. Judges take away a person’s guns without a hearing based on only a mere written complaint. But the laws also don’t even make people safer.
It’s easy enough for people to do something crazy with a motor vehicle, but none of the red-flag laws address taking away a person’s ability to drive. Last week, a 62-year-old man ran over people with a U-Haul truck on a Brooklyn sidewalk, killing one and injuring eight others. The man was described as having had a mental health crisis.
Until 2018, the Crime Prevention Research Center tried keeping a list of vehicle attacks worldwide. The worst recent vehicle attack occurredin France on July 14, 2016, when 86 were killed and 430 wounded. That attack was much more deadly than any American mass public shooting. In Western Europe, only the November 2015 Paris concert attack was more deadly.
There have been more vehicle attacks in the past few years. In November 2021, a 38-year-old man who was already facing felony charges for attempting to kill the mother of his child with his car murdered six and injured 62 others with that same vehicle at a Waukesha Christmas parade.
In November 2022, Florida police narrowly averted a “mass casualty” event at a 5K Thanksgiving Day run by stopping a woman before she could drive her Range Rover through the crowd at 60 mph. Once caught, the disturbed woman “repeatedly banged her head” against the window of a police car.
The Washington Post notes that between May and June 2020, there were at least 18 deliberate vehicles rammings into people.
The MSU killer suspect, Anthony McRae, also had a history of mental illness. Police even performed a welfare check on him just the week before the attack. But if the police had a “reasonable belief” that McRae posed a danger to himself or others, they already had the authority to have him evaluated under Michigan’s involuntary commitment law. If mental health professionals concurred about McRae posing a danger, there would have been an immediate hearing and a lawyer provided for his defense.
While judges can involuntarily commit individuals, they also have a broad range of other options, such as voluntary mental health treatment with a follow-up hearing or taking away a person’s guns.
Red-flag laws start with the same “reasonableness” test but don’t give people a hearing and have no mental health care experts involved in the process. Thejudge is only given the power to confiscate a person’s legally-owned guns.
The same reasonableness standard applies to both red-flag laws and involuntary commitment. And the police didn’t think McRae met that standard, so a red-flag law wouldn’t have prevented this attack.
As to using red-flag laws to prevent suicides, about half of suicides do indeed involve guns, but there are lots of other lethal methods (e.g., hanging, cyanide, walking in front of a train or bus, jumping from a lethal height). When all firearms are banned, the suicide rates remain statistically unchanged as people simply switch to other ways of killing themselves.
A frequent claim is that red-flag laws are very popular. But when surveys explain that guns are taken away without a hearing and that no mental health professionals are involved, voters change from 2-to-1 support to almost 2-to-1 opposition.
If a person is actually dangerous, he has so many other ways to commit suicide or kill others. It is no wonder research shows red-flag laws to be ineffective.
John R. Lott, Jr., “No, Biden’s Push For Red-Flag Laws Won’t Keep Anyone Safer,” The Federalist, February 22, 2023.
Dr. John Lott appeared on One America News Network’s Tipping Point to discuss the more than often incidents in which armed people stopped the attackers from committing acts of violence. They also discussed that repealing the Second Amendment won’t stop crimes, as criminals can always find other means than firearms to commit crimes. We don’t have the video, but here is the audio of the interview.
(The Tipping Point, One America News, Thursday, February 16, 2023)
. . . There are currently 25 states with constitutional carry. When there were only 13–Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming–the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) showed that data from the 13 states showed overall murder numbers fell from 4.49 to 4.31 post-constitutional carry enactment, and that violent crime fell from 331.5 to 318.2.
But murder levels can vary for a variety of reasons, and CPRC’s John Lott explains some of the numerous factors that are often at play:
Firearm homicide is not a good measure of the effect of Constitutional Carry laws because murders can be committed with other weapons as well as by hands and fists. Also, gun homicide data include justifiable homicides, including homicides by police in the line of duty. Justifiable homicides are benefits, not costs, and they might understandably increase when more citizens are allowed to defend themselves with guns. The FBI murder rate has neither of these problems and is a better test of the effect of constitutional carry laws. Nevertheless, my analysis finds that Constitutional Carry laws do not increase firearm homicide.
It should also be noted that Lott points out that constitutional carry helps to make the poor safer, by making self-defense affordable.
Lott adds:
Constitutional Carry will make it easier for poor people, who are the most likely victims of violent crime, to be able to defend themselves and their families. Costs matter; just compare the numbers in neighboring states, Illinois and Indiana. In Illinois, the total cost of getting a five-year permit is $450; there is no license fee in Indiana. While only 4% of Illinoisans have a concealed handgun permit, 22% of adults in Indiana already have one, the second-highest number of permits per capita.
Newsom’s claim is partly false.
AWR Hawkins, “FACT CHECK: Gavin Newsom Says ‘Permitless Carry Does Not Make You Safer’,” Breitbart, February 1, 2023.
Crime Prevention Research Center’s John Lott spoke to Breitbart News about the impact concealed carry has on crime and he noted, “The majority of peer-reviewed published studies show that the states that issue the most concealed handgun permits have the biggest drops in violent crime.”
AWR Hawkins, “Gavin Newsom Responds to Mass Shootings by Limiting Concealed Carry,” Breitbart, February 2, 2023.
Economist John Lott Jr., a former visiting professor and fellow at the University of Chicago, recently spoke at an event hosted by the Federalist Society at the UChicago Law School. Now the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, Lott argued that gun control legislation is ineffective in combatting violent crimes and that its poor implementation has inadvertently harmed the country’s most vulnerable populations.
The first portion of Dr. Lott’s presentation framed the importance of his research. “We know that violent crime has soared in the United States over the last couple of years,” asserted Lott, “and it’s not really a mystery what has happened.”
One explanation for why violent crime has risen is that large cities across the country cut police funding in 2020. New York moved to drop roughly $1 billion from its police budget that year; in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., the figures were $150 million, $120 million, and $15 million, respectively.
An additional explanation that Lott proffered for rising crime is that district attorneys like Chicago’s Kim Foxx have neglected their duties by refusing to prosecute violent criminals. He cited the 2021 West Side shootout, after which Foxx refrained from pressing charges despite high-definition video footage nailing the perpetrators.
Moreover, bail reform has allowed seasoned offenders like Waukesha Christmas parade attacker Darrell Brooks Jr. to be released from custody even with a rapsheet fraught with felony charges.
Like Politics, Is All Crime Local?
In the second portion of the event, Dr. Lott focused on the negative effects that crime has on communities: Violence against the social fabric, simply stated, transcends individual victims. For instance, the frequent concentration of crimes in areas predominantly populated by minorities carries external effects, like rendering the local business climate more risky, eliminating potential job opportunities, and decreasing property values.
Illustrating empirically the dense concentration of American crime, Lott observed that the worst 1% of counties (31 total) contained 21% of the nation’s population but accounted for 42% of the murders. Shockingly, the most violent 2% of counties contained 31% of the population but had 56% of the murders.
Cook County, encompassing Chicago, was the worst county in the nation with 775 murders that year.
The Discriminatory Effect of Gun Laws
Lott devoted the last portion of his lecture to firearm ownership data and the fallacies behind background check laws.
Highlighting the demographic trends of gun ownership, Lott’s slide deck claimed that in the last eight years, the growth of permits for women was 109 percent faster than that of men and the growth of permits for blacks was 136 percent faster than that of whites.
Additionally, in Texas, the largest percentage increases in gun ownership from 2000 to 2020 were from minority women. Lott’s explanation for that trend is that the most vulnerable demographics with respect to crime are physically weaker people (i.e., women and the elderly, generally speaking) and poor minorities.
In light of these data showing that minorities and women are leaping at the chance to own firearms, Lott asserted that current policies relating to gun control and background checks are flawed at best and purely nonsensical at worst.
“When you buy a gun, you fill out something called a 4473 where you put down your name, your address, your birthday. . . . And you think they’re going to use all this information,” noted Lott. “But what they actually use is roughly phonetically similar names and similar birthdays.” That results in an abundance of “false denials,” i.e., the rejection of people with a clean background.
The more felons who have a name similar to yours, the more likely it is you will be denied a firearm. And as Lott explains, proportionally uneven felony rates across different demographics mean a disproportionate number of false denials between different races.
According to Lott, the most consequential result of that background-check flaw is that the most vulnerable populations—minorities living in minority-heavy urban areas—are more likely to be denied the firearm with which they could protect themselves and their families. Hence, gun control laws designed to reduce violent crime have actually exacerbated the issue.
Lott received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles; served as a visiting professor and fellow at the UChicago Law School in the 1990s; and published his most famous book, More Guns, Less Crime in 1998. His work is not uncontroversial: Mark Spies writes, for instance, that “Lott’s findings and methods have generated scathing criticism from prominent academics, who have questioned his veracity and exposed flaws in his work.”
Perry Zhao, “Gun Control Laws Box Out Minorites, John Lott Argues at UChicago Law Federalist Society Event,” Chicago Thinker, February 1, 2023.
The book “More guns, less crime” is one of many studies that show in painstaking detail how areas with concealed carry laws have lower crime rates. . . .
Eric Golub, “State of the Union 2023: Biden’s Build Back Blather,” The Jewish Journal, February 8, 2023
Members of the Florida Sheriffs Association made an appearance Monday to lobby their organization’s support for the bill. According to a report published by the Crime Prevention Research Center, Florida is the state with the most concealed carry permit holders in the nation with 2.57 million. . . .
“Considering the elimination of concealed weapons permits in Florida,” Historic City News, February 1, 2023.
The president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, John Lott, said California is “making it very difficult” for law enforcement to do its job and for individuals to protect themselves. In an email to the Sun, Mr. Lott said California’s “list of ‘protecting citizens’ rights’ is missing an extremely important one: people’s right to self-defense.” . . .
Matthew Rice, “States Scrambling To Outmaneuver Supreme Court on Guns,” The New York Sun, January 19, 2023.
“President Biden and Democrats want to talk about violent crime as a gun problem. Over 92% of violent crime has nothing to do with guns,” said John Lott Jr., former president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. “The way you reduce violent crime or gun crime is the same way: You have to make it risky to go and commit the crime.” . . .
Michael Dorstewitz, “Netanyahu Gets It Right on Guns, US Should Follow His Lead,” NewsMax, February 1, 2023.
Homicide rates are spiking, but only in select districts. Another study by John Lott, the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, shows that the worst 5 percent of U.S. counties accounted for 73 percent of homicides.
“Murder isn’t a nationwide problem,” Lott wrote. “It’s a problem in a small set of urban areas, and even in those counties, murders are concentrated in small areas inside them, and any solution must reduce those murders.” Therefore, assault weapons bans and similar solutions will do little to reduce violent crime. As Lott has demonstrated, the counties with the highest homicide rates already have low gun ownership. To truly fix the nation’s homicide problem, Americans need to focus on the problems in the urban warzones where homicides are occurring. . . .
Andrew Miller, “12 U.S. Cities Are Among the 50 Most Dangerous Cities in the World,” The Trumpet, February 1, 2023.
An excellent example of this is provided by recent research on the US murder rate by the Crime Prevention Research Center, and its president, John R. Lott Jr., whom I have known since we overlapped many years ago in the UCLA Economics PhD program. I would note that John’s work is often controversial, which also makes him a frequent subject of ad hominem attacks, because the empirical data he develops can strongly contradict what others are “selling” as the truth in some area, particularly with regard to crime. However, I have never seen him abuse logic and statistics to get a particular answer he set out to find (or was paid to, as many “researchers” are). His focus, which strongly reminds me of the work of Harold Demsetz, who taught both of us, is on designing empirical tests to differentiate among alternative explanations, then following where the evidence leads, rather than torturing evidence to create the “right” wrong answer.
Increases in homicide rates tend to be treated by state and federal politicians as if they are broadly distributed national problems to scare Americans into supporting overly broad-brush “solutions.” But Lott’s research shows instead that “homicide rates have spiked, but most of America has remained untouched.” Or as David Strom summarized the results, “There are vast swathes of the country where violent crime is very, very rare, and small areas of the country where it is common.” If that is true, we should focus our attention on those small areas, not on national policies poorly focused on where the actual problems are most severe.
Lott’s research, which used 2020 homicide data, examined the concentration of homicides in particular areas to see whether America’s increasing homicide problem is national or local. He let that data tell its story.
First, he focused on county-level data rather than national data. Some of the dramatic results he found:
— The worst five counties (Cook, Los Angeles, Harris, Philadelphia, and New York) accounted for about 15 percent of homicides.
— The worst 1 percent of counties (31), with 21 percent of the US population, accounted for 42 percent of the homicides.
— The worst 2 percent of counties (62), with 31 percent of the population, accounted for 56 percent of the homicides.
— The worst 5 percent of counties (155), with 47 percent of the population, accounted for 73 percent of the homicides.
In contrast, over half of US counties (52 percent) had zero homicides in 2020, and roughly one-sixth of the counties (16 percent) had only one.
Continuing his investigation, Lott looked at even finer-scale zip code data for Los Angeles County. He found that the worst 10 percent of zip codes in the county accounted for 41 percent of the homicides, and the worst 20 percent accounted for a total of 67 percent of the homicides.
From such data, Lott concluded that: “Murder isn’t a nationwide problem.” Instead, “It’s a problem in a small set of urban areas, and even in those counties murders are concentrated in small areas inside them, and any solution must reduce those murders.” . . .
Gary M. Gales, “Concentrate Where the Murders Are Concentrated,” The Independent Institute, January 30, 2023.
Unfortunately, “The Rookie” isn’t the only show trying to portray lawfully armed citizens as a problem in society. “Law & Order,” “Blue Bloods,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” and other shows have recently labeled armed citizens as “vigilantes” and “idiots,” or contrived a plot that involves an armed citizen making matters worse.
“[T]elevision shows have begun to demonize concealed-carry permits,” wrote Dr. John Lott, founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC).
Data from the CPRC shows that more-than-21-milllion Americans carry concealed, and that these individuals are among the most-law-abiding citizens in the country. . . .
Garrett O’Leary, “Hollywood Gets It Wrong, Again,” America’s 1st Freedom, February 5, 2023.
“Crime is up a lot from where it was a couple of years ago,” Dr. John Lott, head of the Crime Prevention Research Center, said in an exclusive interview with America’s 1st Freedom. “And we really don’t have a good measure for what happened in violent crime in 2021 because about 40% of the police departments in the country—many of them are among the largest police departments in the country, such as New York City and Los Angeles—are not reporting crime data to the FBI.
“It’s not like these cities aren’t collecting this data, they’re just not turning it over to the FBI. Part of the reason for this is political. Part of it is the fact that crime has gone up so much in some places that by not reporting it to the FBI, they can then sort of hide how bad the crime increase might be in certain areas.” . . .
“Today, Americans are often being misinformed about what causes crime and how you stop it—and how effective individuals are at being able to stop it,” says Lott, who keeps a running tally of mass-murderers who are stopped by armed citizens on his website (crimeresearch.org). . . .
“President Biden doesn’t seem to understand that armed, law-abiding citizens make it riskier for criminals to commit crime,” said Lott. “Biden never seems to grasp the value of deterrence. He hasn’t criticized the progressive prosecutors who refuse to prosecute violent criminals, the judges who have released large numbers of inmates from jails or the bail-reform measures that immediately put violent criminals back on the street. Instead, he blames armed citizens for crimes committed by criminals who, by the way, almost always have illegally obtained guns.” . . .
Mark Chesnut, “Gun Owners Aren’t to Blame For Surging Violent Crime,” America’s 1st Freedom, January 31, 2023.
Gun control advocates, in addition to attempting to prove that gun laws reduce violence, work hard to minimize John Lott’s research with its solid support for “More Guns, Less Crime” . . .
Gary Mauser, Alan Chwick, and Joanne Eisen, “Are Civilian Owned Guns A Benefit to Society? Researchers Have No Clue?” Ammoland, February 3, 2023.
“Murders in US Are very concentrated, and they are becoming even more so,” a new paper by economist and author John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center demonstrates. “Most counties experience no murders, a smaller set where there are a few murders, and then a tiny set of counties where murders are very common.”
“Murder isn’t a nationwide problem. It’s a problem in a small set of urban areas, and even in those counties, murders are concentrated in small areas inside them, and any solution must reduce those murders,” Lott concludes. . . .
David Codrea, “Homicide Data Show No Justification for Blanket Citizen Disarmament,” Ammoland, January 31, 2023.
Both Dennis Ferrier, the reporter who put this piece together, and State Rep William Lamberth are angels!!! Thank God for both of them. Thank William for meeting with the new TDOC commissioner and Dennis for continuing to put pressure through his news segments! TDOC has been dragging its feet for years on this. We hope our friends anywhere in Tennessee will contact the Tennessee Department of Corrections and tell them the process of revoking this murderer’s good time early release credits has dragged on much too long. Watch this video and then send an email to TDOC.Webmaster@tn.gov.
Dr. John Lott talked to Gary Nolan’s national radio show about his latest article at The Federalist titled “False Statistics Fly As California Democrats Push For Gun Control Laws That Failed Already.”
(Saturday, February 4, 2023, from 9:05 to 9:22 AM)
There is a reason that secret ballots were adopted precisely to prevent voters being pressured to vote a particular way. While this focuses on pressuring voters to support this candidate, there is also the possibility of buying votes. The mail-in voting and vote harvesting rules in California makes this type of fraud possible.
Khan faces multiple felony charges that stem from the 2020 election. He is accused of stashing 41 ballots at his home. Investigators also say he registered 23 people to vote at his home and that his email and phone number were used to register 47 others. Body camera footage showed voters telling detectives how Khan allegedly pressured them to vote for him and how he allegedly falsified voter registration documents.
Melanie Wingo, “‘I did not resign,’ Lodi Council Member Shakir Khan tells KCRA 3 in exclusive interview,” KCRA Channel 3 (Sacramento, California), February 18, 2023.
Television show bias against guns is never-ending. Except for a couple episodes on Paramount’s Yellowstone, you won’t see an entertainment television show with a civilian successfully using a gun defensively. Instead, something always seems to go wrong when guns are used defensively (from being fatally shot by the criminal without stopping the crime to getting in the way of police to continually having the gun stolen and use in a crime to it being used in an accidental shooting). In fact, after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision earlier this year, television shows seem to be showing more bad defensive gun uses than ever before. This episode of NBC’s “Law & Order” is no different (Season 22, Episode 12, January 26, 2023). This episode has an example of a defensive gun use failing. The landlord shoots a young boy who bangs on his door and breaks through the door. The boy was trying to do a stunt for social media to be famous.
It is somewhat depressing that this type of misinformation was seen by 5.4 million viewers. In our collection of 124 cases where armed civilians have stopped active shooting attacks, there is not one case that corresponds to the examples shown in these various TV shows where a concealed carry permit holder accidentally shoots a bystander or where they caused a bystander to be shot.
Real Clear Investigations: There Are Far More Defensive Gun Uses Than Murders in America. Here’s Why You Rarely Hear of Them
Real Clear Politics: Faulty FBI Data Obscures Successful Defensive Gun Use
Real Clear Investigations: How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers — and Media Play Along
More examples of these types of shows are available here.
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.
Dr. John Lott Jr. was on the Politics & Issues with Larry Marino to talk about a series of new laws approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, tightening regulations on the sale and possession of guns in unincorporated areas. They also discussed Present Biden’s comments on policing in the State of the Union address.
(Saturday, February 11, 2023)
If a person is really a danger to themselves or others, confiscating guns Isn’t much of a solution. There are so many other ways for disturbed people to harm themselves or others. Yet, the advocates of Red Flag Laws want people to believe if you simply take away the legally owned guns from someone who is a danger to themselves or others, the problem is solved.
For example, it’s easy enough for people to do something crazy with a motor vehicle. Yet, none of the Red Flag Laws address taking away a person’s ability to drive. Last Monday, February 13, 2023, a 62-year-old man, Weng Sor, ran over people in Brooklyn with a U-Haul truck, killing one and injuring eight others. The man who was described as having a mental health crisis drove onto sidewalks and hit bicyclists.
Until 2018, we tried keeping a list of vehicle attacks worldwide. Since then there have been a number of other attacks. In November 2021, a thirty-eight year old man, who was already facing felony charges for attempting to murder the mother of his child with his car, murdered six and injured 62 others at a Waukesha Christmas parade.
In November 2022, Florida police narrowly averted a “mass casualty” event at a 5K Thanksgiving Day run by stopping a woman before she could drive her Range Rover Velar at 60 MPH through the crowd. Once caught, the disturbed woman “repeatedly banged her head” against the window of a police car.
On Saturday, November 26, 2022, a car was driven into a crowd of 800 people at a Christmas Market in Congleton, England. The Washington Post notes that between May and June 2020, there were at least 18 deliberate vehicle attacks on people. The worst, recent vehicle attack occurred in France on July 14, 2016, when 86 were killed and 430 wounded. That attack was much more deadly than any American mass public shooting, and in western Europe only the November, 2015 Paris concert attack with 130 people murdered was more deadly.
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, talked to fill-in host Allen West on 660 AM The Answer in Dallas TX, about her own experience as a victim of a deadly stalker and life-saving advice for stalking victims. See also Nikki’s book “Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband In Front Of Me.”
Dr. John Lott appeared on NewsMax’s Chris Salcedo Show to discuss the recent shooting on the Michigan State University campus. They discussed the fact that the gunman would have been barred from owning a firearm at the time of the shooting had he not had felony gun charges dismissed by a Democrat D.A.
(Wednesday, February 15, 2023, from 4:46 to 4:51 PM ET)
A permit holder stopped a shooter who had shot four people and threatened others. Interestingly, many initial news reports had credited an off-duty police officer with stopping the attack (also here). The suspect apparently had a stolen gun.
Police in El Paso, Texas say that a “licensed-to-carry” bystander shot the alleged gunman who is accused of killing one person and injuring another three.
The suspect, a 16-year-old Hispanic male, is accused of shooting the individuals after a “confrontation ensued” between two groups at Cielo Vista Mall on Wednesday evening at 5:05 p.m.
The El Paso Police Department said the confrontation eventually escalated into a “physical fight,” and the 16-year-old pulled out a handgun, fatally shooting Angeles Zaragoza, 17, and injuring another 17-year-old and 15-year-old.
Police say that Emanuel Duran, 32, who is a licensed-to-carry holder, shot the suspect as he was pointing his gun toward the direction of more bystanders.
“As soon as the shooting ended, the 16-year-old suspect began to run and was pointing the gun towards the direction of bystanders, including 32-year-old Emanuel Duran, a Licensed to Carry Holder. As the suspect ran towards Duran and bystanders, Duran drew his handgun and shot the suspect,” Duran said. . . .
Adam Sabes, “Texas ‘licensed-to-carry’ bystander shot El Paso mall shooter as he targeted more would-be victims: police,” Fox News, February 17, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin about Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics on Biden’s latest gun control regulations regarding pistol-stabilizing braces.
(Wednesday, February 1, 2023)
Vicki’s show covers most of Wisconsin and part of the Minneapolis area in Minnesota (WISN, WIBA, WMEQ).
Dr. John Lott joined Larry Elder on Epoch TV to discuss the latest Michigan State University Shooting. They pointed out the fact that the shooter would have been barred from legally purchasing, owning, or possessing a firearm if he would have been convicted of a prior felony gun charge dropped by a Democrat D.A. They also discussed the Tweets by Michael Bloomberg’s Groups who are at least partially blaming Dr. Lott for mass public shootings in the US.
(Thursday, February 16, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Cunningham on his national Sunday radio show about his recent piece at Real Clear Politics titled “Gun Control Laws Backfiring in California.” They also discussed President Biden’s misleading claims and political biases on crime and guns in the State of the Union Address.
(Sunday, February 12, 2023)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Real Clear Politics.
If you believe tweets from Michael Bloomberg’s The Trace and its employees, I am “one major factor” why the U.S. hasn’t passed stronger gun control laws and thus, they claim, responsible for mass shootings in the United States. These are becoming regular tweets after each mass public shooting.
They are upset that I have quoted mass murderers on their decisions to target gun-free zones. Yet, statements such as, “Areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack” are common among mass murderers.
That doesn’t make sense to gun control supporters. Immediately after this week’s shooting at Michigan State University, President Biden led a chorus of politicians and gun control groups in calling for more gun control laws.
Biden used his speech on Tuesday to call for banning “assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets.” Shannon Watts, who heads Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action, called for a broad range of laws: background checks for long guns, red flag laws, disarming domestic abusers, banning assault weapons, limiting magazine capacity, and regulating open carry of guns.
If you believe tweets from Michael Bloomberg’s The Trace and its employees, I am “one major factor” why the U.S. hasn’t passed stronger gun control laws and thus, they claim, responsible for mass shootings in the United States. These are becoming regular tweets after each mass public shooting.
They are upset that I have quoted mass murderers on their decisions to target gun-free zones. Yet, statements such as, “Areas where CCW are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack” are common among mass murderers.
That doesn’t make sense to gun control supporters. Immediately after this week’s shooting at Michigan State University, President Biden led a chorus of politicians and gun control groups in calling for more gun control laws.
Biden used his speech on Tuesday to call for banning “assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets.” Shannon Watts, who heads Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action, called for a broad range of laws: background checks for long guns, red flag laws, disarming domestic abusers, banning assault weapons, limiting magazine capacity, and regulating open carry of guns.
None of these proposed laws would have stopped this attack. The murderer, Anthony McRae, used handguns with multiple standard size magazines, not assault weapons with large-capacity magazines – not remotely close to the 50- to 70-round magazines that Biden was describing. More broadly, 58% of mass public shootings are committed only with handguns. Just 14% are committed solely with any type of rifle.
Lax law enforcement, however, did have something to do with this attack. District Attorney Carol Siemon should have prosecuted the Michigan State University murderer for a felony gun charge in 2019. It would have been an easy conviction, but Siemon substituted a misdemeanor charge in the name of “race equity.” A felony conviction means the killer would likely still be in jail.
Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth had argued that East Lansing’s city council should “reconsider her internal felony firearm charging policy,” because it “does not hold people properly criminally accountable, and increases the likelihood of additional gun violence.”
Gun control groups haven’t complained about the DA’s refusal prosecute the murderer for the felony gun charge. But the background checks that these groups champion are designed to stop people with any felony or misdemeanor domestic violence convictions from buying guns. Not that a felony conviction would have stopped the killer from getting a gun anyway, as he could have used someone else’s gun or bought one illegally.
Of course, among the other proposed laws, domestic abusers are already banned for life from owning a gun. Open carry was also not relevant, as the killer used his backpack to carry the guns.
As to red flag laws, McRae did indeed have a history of mental illness, and police performed a welfare check just the week before. But if the police had a “reasonable belief” that McRae posed a danger to himself or others, they already had authority under Michigan’s involuntary commitment law to have him evaluated by mental health care experts. If the mental health care experts agreed that McRae was a danger to himself or others, there would have been an immediate hearing and a lawyer provided if he could not afford one. While judges can involuntarily commit individuals, they have other options such as voluntary mental health treatment and a follow-up hearing or taking away a person’s guns.
Red flag laws start with the same “reasonableness” test but don’t give people a hearing. The judge only sees a written complaint. There are no mental health care experts involved in the process. And the judge is only given the power to confiscate a person’s legally owned guns. If the person is actually dangerous, there are so many other ways to commit suicide or to kill others. Red flag laws ignore due process and are also ineffective.
But the key point here is that the same reasonableness standard applies to both red flag laws and involuntary commitment, and the police didn’t think that McRae met that standard, so a red flag law wouldn’t have prevented this attack.
Gun control advocates keep pushing laws that won’t do anything to stop the crimes in question. Many proponents seem to have little interest in getting tough on crime, and it’s as though they want to make life difficult for law-abiding gun owners and not punish real criminals. Let’s get serious about crime by enforcing existing laws.
John R. Lott, jr., “MSU Shooting: The Blame Game,” Real Clear Politics, February 17, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Lars Larson on both his national and Northwest regional radio shows about the new bill aiming to make Florida America’s 26th Constitutional Carry state. That could make the majority of U.S. states permitless-carry territory, ensuring law-abiding gun owners have their right to carry a firearm for self-defense.
(Tuesday, January 31, 2023)
The Northwest show airs on over 20 stations in the Pacific Northwest; the biggest local talk radio audience in the region.
The Lars Larson national radio show is heard weekly by 4.25 million people.
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about our latest report on murder concentration in the US. They also discussed more gun control coming to Michigan.
(Tuesday, January 31, 2023)
As law enforcement has broken down in many parts of the United States, gun sales and concealed handgun permits increased so that people can go and protect themselves. The problem is that many of those who have supported District Attorneys who won’t prosecute violent criminals or cut police budgets are the same people who support stricter gun control that makes it more difficult for citizens to defend themselves.
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The incident is one of dozens that have played out in the Windy City in recent years. Legally armed citizens are taking matters into their own hands, thwarting attacks and other crimes.
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“It’s the reason why you’ve seen the increase in gun sales,” said John Lott, president and founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center. “Because people realize that the police and law enforcement broadly isn’t being allowed — the criminal justice system isn’t being allowed — to go and do its job.
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“And the people know that they ultimately have to be responsible for protecting themselves and their families,” Lott told Fox News Digital in a recent phone interview.
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Fox News Digital analyzed local media reports going back to 2020 and found that there have been at least 44 incidents in which people with a gun, who had concealed carry permits (CCW) or an FOID, an Illinois identification card used for gun possession and purchase, have thwarted an attack or other crime. . . .
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In Illinois, obtaining a concealed carry permit is “difficult,” but still “possible,” according to crime and gun expert Lott.
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He compared Illinois to its neighboring state of Indiana, highlighting that a little over 4% of the adult population has concealed carry permits, while in Indiana, that number sits at about 22%. He said the difference comes down to money. It costs nothing to get a concealed carry permit in Indiana, while it’s at least $400 in Illinois.
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Lott said the heavy costs placed on Illinois citizens often prevent those who would most benefit from firearms for self-defense — those most likely to be victims of crimes — from going through the required permitting steps, because they don’t have the money.
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“The sad thing is Illinois makes it so difficult for law-abiding citizens to be able to go and protect themselves,” Lott said. “They basically have set it up so that primarily the wealthy, well-to-do were able to go and protect themselves.
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“The problem is, is that the people who are most likely victims of violent crime are poor Blacks who live in high-crime parts of Chicago and other places,” Lott added.
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“And yet, you make them have to pay over $400 to get the permit, get … the state-required training that they have. We’re not even talking about the cost of the gun or anything else. That’s a real cost.”
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Emma Colton, “Fox News Extensively Quotes the CPRC: 2nd Amendment steps in after cops step back in wake of defund movement in Chicago,” Fox News, February 16, 2023.
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, talked to Rob O’Donnell on WILK News in Northeastern Pennsylvania about her new op-ed at Fox News offering advice for others on how to protect themselves from stalkers. She discussed the importance of armed self-defense and the dangers of gun-free zones by sharing her own experience as a victim of stalking. Nikki’s book is available here.
(Monday, January 30, 2023, from 2:08 to 2:22 pm EST)
January 2023 marked the 19th annual National Stalking Awareness Month.
Here are two Tweets by The Trace and one of their employees who are at least partially blaming Dr. John Lott for mass public shootings. Lott responded to The Trace’s tweet by suggesting that they read the manifestos and diaries by the mass public shooters (see here and here).
Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, talked to Monica Perez on Deep Dives for an hour about her own experience of being a target of a deadly stalker. She shared how her husband was brutally murdered in front of her by her stalker in a gun-free zone, where they were defenseless. Nikki and Monica also discussed a wide range of topics including the dangers of gun-free zones; the unintended consequences of the current Red Flag Laws and waiting periods for concealed carry being permitted; Nikki’s fight for a lifetime order of protection to help other Tennessee violent crime victims against their convicted offenders; the life-saving advice for stalking victims and the importance of armed self-defense as a means of protection; the necessity to bring back the death penalty to deter murders; the overprotection of the criminals’ rights at the expense of victims; etc. See also Nikki’s book “Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband In Front Of Me.”
(Wednesday, February 8, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Cunningham on his national Sunday radio show about our latest report showing murders are happening more than ever in urban counties in the US. They also discussed California’s recent string of mass shootings.
(Sunday, January 29, 2023)
Dr. John Lott appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics titled “Gun Control Laws Backfiring in California.”
(Tuesday, February 7, 2023, from 6:50 to 6:58 PM EST)
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has pointed out many times, television crime shows seem to think criminals are constantly using machine guns to commit crime. Unfortunately, Paramount’s new show Tulsa King is no different (Season 1, Episode 9, January 8, 2023). This episode shows a motorcycle gang in a gunfight with the mafia. The motorcycle gang brings a machine gun with them to the fight.
In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report, where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Examples of similar television shows can be found here.
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1, Episode 9, January 8, 2023)
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns
The 2022-2023 season.
NBC Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 3): November 3, 2022, Episode 6, November 10, 2022, Episode 7.
The Rookie Feds (Season 1): September 27, 2022, Episode 1; October 4, 2022, Episode 2;
CBS’ FBI International (Season 2): September 20, 2022, Episode 1,
The Rookie (Season 5): E10, January 3, 2023,
Paramount’s Tulsa King (Season 1): Episode 9, January 8, 2023.
Shows from last season.
Amazon’s new “Reacher” Season 1, Episode 8 (February 3, 2022)
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 9): Episode 10, January 10, 2022
NBC’s Endgame (Season 1): Episode 1, February 21, 2022.
NBC’s Law & Order SVU (Season 23): Episode 8 (November 11, 2021).
CBS’ The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021, E14 (April 10, 2022).
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021, Episode 12, February 1, 2022
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 4): E18 (April 8, 2022).
CBS’ NCIS Los Angeles (Season 13): E22 May 22, 2022
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022, S5 E16 (April 10, 2022)
CBS’ FBI (Season 4): E17 (April 12, 2022)
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021, E18 (April 26, 2022)
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
Here is another example of the problems created by progressive prosecutors.
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A gunman who killed three and wounded five others at Michigan State University on Monday would have been barred from owning a firearm at the time of the shooting had he not had felony gun charges dismissed by a progressive prosecutor.
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Anthony McRae was charged in June 2019 with illegally carrying a concealed handgun without a permit, but later had those charges dismissed by the office of Ingham County district attorney Carol Siemon (D.). Her office instead let McRae plead guilty to a lesser misdemeanor gun charge, and he served a little more than a year on probation, which ended May 2021. He initially faced up to five years in prison for the felony charge, the Detroit News reported.
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Siemon retired from the district attorney’s office at the start of this year after facing criticism from judges and law enforcement officials for her soft-on-crime policies. The same year that McRae was released, Ingham County sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth pushed East Lansing’s city council “to reconsider her internal felony firearm charging policy,” which he said “does not hold people properly criminally accountable, and increases the likelihood of additional gun violence.” . . .
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Josh Christenson, “Michigan State Shooter Had Prior Felony Gun Charge Dismissed By Progressive Prosecutor,” Washington Free Beacon, February 14, 2023.
Amazingly, the New York Times actually quotes a retired police officer who understands the problems with gun-free zones.
The shooting was the first since the creation of the expansive, signposted zone, the police said in a statement, and it immediately renewed questions about whether such a designation can truly protect the area.
“People feel emboldened to carry guns on the street,” said Tom Harris, a retired New York police inspector and the president of the Times Square Alliance, which promotes businesses and coordinates major events.
“A gun-free zone is not going to stop a criminal from carrying a gun,” Mr. Harris said.
Maria Cramer and Lola Fadulu, “Times Square Killing Tests New York’s Push to Curb Gun
Violence,” New York Times, February 11, 2023.
Ron Noble, the Secretary General of INTERPOL from 2000 to 2014, made similar comments. He cautioned that even with “extraordinary security,” it would be virtually impossible to keep weapons out of soft targets. This means that only the terrorists will have weapons.
Dr. John Lott testified before the Vermont state Senate Judiciary Committee about SB 4, which would ban those under 21 years old from owning so-called “Assault Weapons.” A copy of Lott’s written testimony is available here.
(Friday, February 10, 2023)
This robber really does get the scare of his life, and he couldn’t run away any faster.
A robber had the surprise of his life after the woman he attempted to rob at gunpoint pulled a gun on him in west Houston.
On Jan. 16, a man entered a hotel lobby in the 14800 block of Katy Freeway with a rifle and demanded money from the cash drawer from the hotel clerk.
Officials say while he was climbing over the counter, the woman pulled out her own handgun and aimed it at the suspect. . . .
Fox 26, “Man scared after attempt to rob Houston hotel clerk, woman pulls gun on him instead,” Fox 26 (Houston), February 8, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Cunningham on the giant 700 WLW in Cincinnati about Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics on California’s strict gun control laws being backfiring. They also discussed President Biden’s false and misleading claims about crime and guns in the State of the Union Address. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Townhall titled: “Biden’s Political Biases on Crime in His SOTU Endanger Public Safety.”
(Thursday, February 9, 2023, from 2:08 to 2:23 PM)
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Cunningham on the giant 700 WLW in Cincinnati about our latest report on murder concentration in the US. They also discussed the recent mass public shootings in California.
(Friday, January 27, 2023, from 2:05 to 2:22 PM)
It is amazing how quickly the AirTag allowed the police to recover this car.
. . . “We woke up, and I looked outside and I asked my wife, ‘Hey, do you know your car’s no longer in the driveway?'” Antar Muhammad said.
Leslie Muhammad’s car bore an AirTag, an Apple tracking device, and her husband was able to see where it was using an app on his phone.
“I’m able to pinpoint exactly where it’s at and actually to zoom in and almost precisely pick out the parking space the car was in,” he said.
The Muhammads use AirTags on both their vehicles, on luggage and backpacks. . . .
When police arrived, he was able to show them the car’s location.
“It had moved, and then all of a sudden it stopped moving,” Antar Muhammad said.
The responding officers, from Cary, called their counterparts in Durham, who told WRAL News that officers located the Camry just before 11 a.m. on Saturday and took three underage suspects into custody. . . .
Matt Talhelm, “$29 AirTag helps Cary family, police locate stolen car within minutes,” WRAL, February 6, 2023.
Dr. John Lott talked to Kurt Wright and Anthony Neri on Vermont’s WVMT about our latest study on murder concentration in the US and basic violent crimes’ facts Dr. Lott pointed out in his testimony before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary on Gun Control. They also discussed Dr. Lott’s upcoming testimony before the Vermont State Senate Judiciary Committee on Bill S.4, an act relating to reducing crimes of violence associated with juveniles and dangerous weapons.
(Thursday, February 9, 2023)
CPRC’S Executive Director Nikki Goeser talks with Michael Dukes, on his radio show that covers much of Alaska, about the advice that “experts” give women who are stalked. Nikki talks about her own terrifying stalking experience and the importance of being able to protect yourself and your loved ones. Nikki discussed her piece at Fox News titled “My Stalker Murdered my Husband. Here’s how you can protect yourself.”
(Friday, January 27, 2023, 11:05 to 11:30 AM ET)
Dr. John Lott Jr. was on the Politics & Issues with Larry Marino to talk about Democratic lawmakers’ call for stricter gun control in light of the recent mass public shootings in California.
(Saturday, January 28, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about Dr. Lott’s new op-ed piece at Townhall on Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address.
(Thursday, February 9, 2023)
https://rumble.com/embed/v22c7rw/?pub=vzmgaDr. John Lott joined Larry Elder on Epoch TV to discuss the latest 6-year-old student’s shooting of a Virginia teacher in class.
(Wednesday, January 11, 2023)
January 2023 marks the 19th annual National Stalking Awareness Month. Nikki Goeser, the executive director of the Crime Prevention Research Center, joined Larry Elder on Epoch TV to offer life-saving advice for stalking victims. Her husband was murdered by the stalker, and the saddest part is that she could have had a fighting chance if not for the gun control law that stopped her from carrying a gun inside the restaurant where the tragedy happened.
Nikki’s book is available here.
(Thursday, January 26, 2023)
There are currently 25 Constitutional Carry states, with Louisiana allowing veterans and those in the military to carry without a permit. Florida and South Carolina are racing against each other to see who will be the 26th state. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been pushing for Constitutional Carry since last April. In Nebraska, State Senator Tom Brewer said November’s election made the Legislature slightly more conservative, so there should finally be enough votes to advance the bill. Nebraska almost passed the law last year.
On the other hand, California and Maryland are discussing following New Jersey and New York and passing concealed carry laws that will make it impossible for people to carry. Maryland has a clear Right-to-Carry law with a large 599% increase in permits over the last year. The law in Maryland is in a lot of flux, and the proposal in California is in the early stages of consideration. Hawaii has also been given out permits, though both Hawaii County and the City and County of Honolulu are discussing creating gun-free zones.
Dr. John Lott talked to WBAL TV (Channel 11) in Baltimore about a bill creating gun-free zones in the state.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Hundreds of people signed up to testify before a Senate panel to oppose gun safety bills, and only three were in favor. Hundreds of pro-Second Amendment advocates carried signs and spoke out against any restrictions on their legal right to possess a firearm. Three people signed up to speak in support of the gun safety bills. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee heard testimony Tuesday about a variety of legislation under the proposal, including the Gun Safety Act of 2023 (Senate Bill 1), which would impose restrictions on where Marylanders who have a permit to carry a concealed handgun can take their firearm. The bill prohibits the possession of a gun in any public place. “What the bill is going to do is basically make it impossible for people to carry a conceal-carry permit (for) handguns in this state,” said John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. . . . “Right now, there’s like one out of every 55 adults in Maryland who has a conceal-carry permit. In Pennsylvania, it’s one in six. In Virginia and West Virginia, it’s one out of nine. There’s no move to undo the laws that are there,” Lott said. . . .
David Collins, “Hundreds lobby Annapolis over gun safety bills, mostly in support of gun rights,” WBAL TV, February 7, 2023.
Dr. John Lott joined Larry Elder on Epoch TV to discuss California’s recent string of mass shootings and his view on gun control issues.
(Wednesday, January 25, 2023)
Dr. John Lott testified before the Maryland State Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on SB 1, which would turn the state into a gun-free zone. A copy of Lott’s written testimony is available here.
(Tuesday, February 7, 2023)
Dr. John Lott talked to Chris X Blayney on Houston’s KSEV AM 700 about California’s recent mass public shootings and the Biden administration’s gun control policies.
(Wednesday, January 25, 2023, from 5:35 to 5:53 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed piece at Townhall on Biden’s State of the Union address.
President Biden’s State of the Union address contained many false and misleading claims about crime and guns.
Biden: “COVID left other scars, like the spike in violent crime in 2020 – the first year of the pandemic.”
Indeed, violent and property crimes fell in 2019 and surged in 2020 and 2021 after the COVID virus hit. But the surge was due to the policies that liberal politicians and judges followed, not COVID per se. Crime increased as police budgets faced cuts, as liberal District Attorneys refused to prosecute violent criminals, as bail reform let dangerous criminals back on the street, and as liberal judges released large numbers of young, healthy criminals from prison. A large academic literature shows that the riskier it is for criminals commit crime, the less likely they are to do so. But, unfortunately, many politicians don’t understand that, and these policies have made it safer for criminals to commit crime, so we have seen a lot more of it.
Biden: “Joining us tonight is Brandon Tsay, a 26-year-old hero. . . . He now works at a dance studio started by his grandparents. Two weeks ago, during Lunar New Year celebrations, he heard the studio’s front door close and saw a man pointing a gun at him. . . . In that instant, he found the courage to act and wrestled the semi-automatic pistol away from a gunman who had already killed 11 people at another dance studio. He saved lives.”
Was Tsay heroic? Yes. But would Biden have honored any of the heroes who used legally carried guns to stop similar attacks? No. These heroes rarely receive national news coverage, but they have stopped no fewer than 37 would-be mass public shootings since January 2020. These dramatic, heroic cases rarely receive national news coverage.
Tsay would have been a lot safer if he had used a permitted concealed handgun to stop the attack. The problem is that in Los Angeles Country there is only one permit for every 5,660 adults. In San Mateo County, where the other attack occurred, there is one permit per every 24,630 adults. By comparison, in the 43 right-to-carry states, there is one permit holder for every nine people.
Unsurprisingly, concealed handgun permit holders don’t stop mass public shootings in states such as California or the six other very restrictive states. But they do make a difference in these right-to-carry states. When Americans are allowed to legally carry concealed handguns, they stop about half the active shooting attacks in the US.
Biden: “Ban assault weapons once and for all. We did it before. I led the fight to ban them in 1994. In the 10 years the ban was law, mass shootings went down.”
Semi-automatic rifles are not the most frequently used weapon in mass public shootings. Fifty-five percent involve only handguns, and only 11% solely involve rifles of any variety.
It should be little wonder that banning “assault” rifles accomplished very little. Under the 1994-2004 ban, there was no drop in the number of attacks with “assault weapons,” and virtually no change in total mass shootings.
But Biden wanted his audience to believe otherwise. “In the 10 years the ban was law, mass shootings went down,” he claimed. “After Republicans let it expire, mass shootings tripled.” In fact, even studies paid for by the Clinton administration couldn’t find statistically significant changes in the number of attacks.
Biden’s claim that mass shootings tripled relies on one researcher’s unique definition – a definition that includes fights between drug gangs over turf. But even with gang shootings included, there is no statistically significant change in the number of attacks with assault weapons. Instead, the increase in non-assault weapon shootings drives the growth in attacks. The percentage of attacks with assault weapons fell once the ban became obsolete – just the opposite of what proponents of the ban would expect.
Biden: “Joining us tonight are the parents of Tyre Nichols, who had to bury him just last week. . . . I’ve never had to have the talk with my children – Beau, Hunter, and Ashley – that so many Black and Brown families have had with their children.”
The Memphis police officers clearly murdered Tyre Nichols. The police continued to assault him after his hands were tied, and when he could no longer resist arrest. But black families should tell their kids the same thing as any other family: obey police orders. Even if you think that the police are wrong, you should follow their orders and leave it to the next stage in the legal process to sort things out.
But Tyre didn’t obey the police. He assaulted the officers and ran away from them. It is very likely that Tyre would still be alive if he had obeyed police orders when his car was initially stopped.
Conclusion
Biden’s misrepresentations have real consequences and endanger safety. By refusing to criticize the liberal District Attorneys who won’t prosecute violent criminals or the liberal judges releasing criminals from jail, Democrats are unwilling to address those problems. He is constantly injecting racism when discussing policing in ways that only create more distrust and anger and drive police to quit their jobs, which in turn drives up crime rates. His obsession with gun control makes him focus on regulations that won’t stop gun crime and ignore those policies that would make a difference.
John R. Lott, Jr., “Biden’s Political Biases on Crime in His SOTU Endanger Public Safety,” Townhall, February 9, 2023.
This is a revised, updated version of a post originally written on April 21, 2015. We have most seriously updated this list starting at the beginning of 2020.
UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh wrote in the Washington Post on April 20, 2015: “Have civilians with permitted concealed handguns stopped such mass shootings before?” We provided Volokh with a list of such cases, which he used.
Below, we have collected news stories on more cases of permit holders stopping mass public shootings with their handguns (we separately collect cases where concealed handguns are used to stop other crimes). There is no reason to believe that this list is comprehensive, given how little media coverage is devoted to these heroic acts. In addition, we make no attempt here to list the vast number of defensive gun uses in general that are reported daily in the US.
Permit holders stopped some mass public shootings that gained extensive news coverage, but only a few stories mentioned that it was a permit holder who stopped the attack. The stories frequently get other facts wrong.
A note: Gun control advocates raise the concern that concealed handgun permit holders who stop an attack might accidentally shoot a bystander. They are also fearful that the police might accidentally kill the permit holder. While such incidents are a possibility, they have yet to occur. We probably do not have all the cases where a permit holder stopped a mass public shooting, but if a permit holder were to shoot a bystander, it seems clear that such an event would get news coverage.
[This post has been updated. Cases have only been systematically collected since 2014. Because of the lack of news stories that accompany these cases, we believe that we have found a much greater percentage of the cases since 2014 than earlier.]
Tucson, Arizona, December 18, 2022
The incident started when the suspect was kicked out of the bar because of his disruptive and threatening behavior. He returned shortly after with a rifle and fired a shot into the ceiling. The suspect was shot three times by an armed patron at the bar after he was repeatedly told to put the rifle down but refused. The owner of a local bar credited the armed citizen with protecting the lives of other customers and employees. Multiple media outlets initially reported the shooting as a “bar fight.”
A shooting at a bar on Tucson’s west side Sunday was initially reported by multiple media outlets as a “bar fight”, but Famous Sam’s owner Mark Rhude said it was a much different situation that could have been more serious.
Speaking exclusively with News 4 Tucson, Rhude said it was an active shooter situation stopped short by a heroic customer with a gun.
Rhude wasn’t at work at the time but based on his staff’s account of what happened he said a man at the bar began hurling racial slurs and talking about violence…
Staff was able to get the man to leave but about an hour or so later, just after 6 p.m. on Sunday, the man returned with a rifle and fired a shot into the ceiling…
But then two customers stepped in to try and convince him to drop the weapon. One of those customers was armed with a gun of their own.
“He [the customer] then said drop your gun to the bad guy three times and bad guy wouldn’t and he leveled it right at the guy and our customer here, he shot him, apparently three times,” Rhude said…
Rhude doesn’t encourage people to bring guns into his business but said he’s thankful the customer was there.
“He was a hero and I appreciate what he did because he saved you know other customers and our employees, so yeah unfortunate situation but he did good,” Rhude explained.
Chorus Nylander, “Tucson bar owner says shooting was self-defense against armed man,” KVOA, December 19, 2022.
Chandler, Arizona, December 14, 2022
This attack was stopped at the Amazon warehouse parking lot.
An armed Arizona man is being credited as a “good Samaritan” by police after he shot an active shooter in an Amazon facility parking lot, likely preventing further bloodshed.
Police in Chandler, Arizona, say that 29-year-old Jacob Murphy pulled into the employee parking lot of an Amazon facility on Wednesday morning and opened fire after jumping out of his car,” KSAZ-TV reported. . . . .
An armed Amazon worker on the scene saw what was unfolding, and police say he pulled out his gun and fired at Murphy, wounding him.
“He did come to the aid of an individual who was shot by a suspect. So, in that case, I would say he is a good Samaritan,” Sgt. Jason McClimans said in a press conference.
According to a statement from police released on Friday, Murphy was found dead in the parking lot when they arrived at the scene, and the investigation has concluded that he died from both the gunshot wound from the armed employee and a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police say the shooting victim who Murphy first fired on “is still recovering and will survive.”
“As previously released, the Chandler Police Department is not investigating the third male, who came to the victim’s aid, as a suspect,” the police department said in a statement. . . .
Andrew Mark Miller, “Armed Amazon employee stops shooter who opened fire at Arizona facility: ‘good Samaritan’,” Fox News, December 17, 2022.
Billings, Montana, November 30, 2022
An unruly 35-year-old customer was reportedly arguing with staff over missing food at the Montana Club and began yelling and threatening others near the restaurant entrance. When the suspect was escorted out, he retrieved a handgun from a vehicle and threatened to shoot. At that point, another armed customer outside the restaurant fired the bullet that struck the 35-year-old in the chest.
A man was shot at the Montana Club after an altercation outside the restaurant at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday…
An employee told police Brusard allegedly ordered some food to go and became irate when he thought some of the food he ordered was missing. He yelled at staff and customers, court documents said, before going to his car to grab bags of food. On his way back into the restaurant, court documents said, he pushed a door into a woman and another argument began between the two. Another customer intervened, and Brusard again went back to his car…
Police spoke with the intervening customer, who told officers he saw Brusard screaming at a woman near the front door of the Montana Club. When the customer stepped behind the woman, according to charging documents, Brusard said he was going to get his gun. The customer watched Brusard go to his car and tuck what looked like a handgun into his waistband.
When Brusard came back into the restaurant, the customer struck him twice before Brusard allegedly pulled out the handgun and pointed it at him. The customer later told police he estimated there was only three feet between himself and Brusard, court documents said. The customer heard a gunshot, then realized it was Brusard who was shot. The customer credited the man who shot Brusard with saving his life.
Investigators found a firearm discarded in the bushes near Montana Club, and soon after identified the 64-year-old man who shot Brusard. The shooter is currently not facing any criminal charges, BPD Lt. Matt Lennick told the Gazette in an email Tuesday, but the investigation into the shooting is still ongoing. Any future charges will be determined by the Yellowstone County Attorney’s Office once the investigation is complete…
Paul Hamby, “Billings man charged with a felony after being shot at Montana Club,” Billings Gazette, December 7, 2022.
Detroit, Michigan, August 28, 2022
The apparently random shootings all occurred on the west side of Detroit in the span of 2 hours and 25 minutes Sunday morning. A 19-year-old gunman killed three people and injured a man and his dog. When an armed bystander saw the fourth shooting, he intervened and stopped the spree killer by drawing his own gun and firing at the gunman until he fled. The sole survivor of the rampage, a 76-year-old man, said the armed bystander saved his life.
A young man suspected of randomly killing three people on Detroit streets fled when an armed bystander saw him shoot a fourth person and responded with his own gunfire, witnesses told a TV station…
Three people were killed over roughly two hours early Sunday…
The suspect shot a fourth person, an 80-year-old man who was walking his dog, according to police. He survived.
Kaia Maxey-Gholson told the TV station that she witnessed another man fire shots in an attempt to stop the suspect.
She said she believes the suspect would have kept shooting the elderly man “like he did the other victims that morning.” …
WXYZ didn’t identify the man who intervened but quoted him as saying the suspect “saw my weapon and he went from predator to prey.” …
AP News Staff, “Witnesses: Armed bystander prevented 4th Detroit death,” AP News, September 1, 2022.
West Palm Beach, Florida, August 7, 2022
A concealed carry permit holder fatally shot a 22-year-old man who brandished a short-barreled shotgun from his car at a family gathering and threatened to fire into the crowd. Police said the suspect refused to drop the weapon after multiple people confronted him. That’s when the permit holder fired his weapon, hitting the armed suspect.
. . . According to officers, a 911 call came in saying someone had been shot, the caller also said he shot the person who took a short-barreled shotgun out of a car, threatening to “shoot the crowd up”.
After an investigation, detectives say a fight broke out between two women, which turned into a brawl of around 20 people. The suspected gunman was 22 years old and from West Palm Beach, but the name and gender have not been released.
The police department says the 22-year-old refused to drop the weapon after multiple people confronted the suspect.
That’s when a 32-year-old man fired his weapon, hitting the armed suspect. The man had a concealed weapon license and remained on the scene with police to cooperate with the investigation. . . .
No charges are pending at this time. . . .
Skyler Shepard, “Bystander shoots, kills person who threatened to ‘shoot the crowd up’,” ABC News Channel 33 (Birmingham, Alabama), August 9th, 2022.
Greenwood, Indiana, July 17, 2022
The attacker was heavily armed and had already murdered three people and wounded three others when a 22-year-old man legally carrying the gun fatally shot him. About 20 shots were fired. It seems extremely likely that more would have been murdered.
Three people are dead and 3 more are injured after a shooting Sunday at the Greenwood Park Mall. The shooting suspect, who police believe acted alone, was killed soon after by an armed citizen at the mall, police said.
The Greenwood Police Department confirmed Sunday that a lone shooter, believed to be an adult male, entered the food court of the mall around 6 p.m. with a rifle and several magazines of ammo. The suspect then shot into the mall, killing three people and injuring three more.
GPD also confirmed Sunday that the shooter was shot and killed by a Good Samaritan who was armed with a handgun. The man who shot the suspect, identified as a 22-year-old from Bartholomew County, had a legal gun permit and is fully cooperating with police.
The suspect was described by police as an adult male armed with a rifle and multiple magazines. No identification or motivation has been released. . . .
Joe Schroeder, “3 dead, 3 injured in shooting at Greenwood Park Mall, suspect killed by armed citizen,” Fox 59 (Indianapolis), July 17, 2022. See also WTHR staff, “4 dead, 2 wounded in shooting at Greenwood Park Mall; police said ‘good Samaritan’ shot and killed shooter,” WTHR Channel 13 NBC, July 17, 2022.
Sunrise, Arizona, July 3, 2022
Two people were murdered and several others were injured by an attack at a large family gathering in Sunrise, Arizona. Raul Mendez, a concealed handgun permit holder who was carrying his concealed handgun at the time of the attack, was able to fatally shoot the attacker, a neighbor, after Mendez had been shot in the head. The above video uses the research that we did at the CPRC, though they don’t credit us for that work.
An Arizona man who was shot in the head while attending a Fourth of July party with his family this summer is speaking out about how he was able to thwart the shooter from killing more people with his concealed carry firearm.
“My back was turned. I heard the first gunshot and that’s what made me, kind of turn my head … But by the time I even was able to look and see what was going on, a bullet already had struck the side of my face,” Raul Mendez recounted to Fox News Digital in a phone interview Tuesday.
Gunshots rang out at a home in Surprise, Arizona, on the evening of July 3 as Mendez, his two daughters and his seven-month pregnant wife gathered with friends and other families to celebrate the founding of America. About 30 people were gathered in the home, including young children, as the group celebrated with fireworks and food . . .
As Hunt continued his alleged rampage, two other women began fighting back against the suspect and screamed for Mendez, knowing he had a concealed carry weapon, Mendez said.
“By the glory of God or the adrenaline and just everything, just the will to live and the will to protect my family, I was able to hear those pleas, those yells for help. I heard my name. And I was able to get up,” he said.
He was able to pull out his firearm and shoot the suspect four times in the chest.
Emma Colton, “Arizona man shot in the head at family party credits his concealed carry for saving lives: ‘would have died’,” Fox News, September 7, 2022.
Charleston, West Virginia, May 25, 2022
Here a man with “an extensive criminal history” started firing an “AR-15 style firearm” into a crowd. Fortunately, a woman who was legally carrying a gun was there to stop the attack.
Police said a woman who was lawfully carrying a pistol shot and killed a man who began shooting at a crowd of people Wednesday night in Charleston.
Dennis Butler was killed after allegedly shooting at dozens of people attending a graduation party Wednesday near the Vista View Apartment complex. No injuries were reported from those at the party.
Investigators said Butler was warned about speeding in the area with children present before he left. He later returned with an AR-15-style firearm and began firing into the crowd before he was shot and killed.
“Instead of running from the threat, she engaged with the threat and saved several lives last night,” Charleston Police Department Chief of Detectives Tony Hazelett said. . . .
Butler did have an extensive criminal history.
Hazelett said no charges will be filed against the woman.
Staff Reports, “Police: Woman with pistol killed man who shot at crowd of people in Charleston,” WCHS Charleston/Huntington, May 26, 7:07 AM.
From WXIN.com: “While police are crediting an Indiana man with shooting and killing a suspect in the Greenwood Park Mall shooting Sunday, mall policy prohibited him from carrying at all. . . . ‘The real hero of the day was the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in the food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he began,’ [Greenwood Police Chief James] Ison said.”
“Someone we are calling the ‘Good Samaritan’ was able to shoot the assailant and stop further bloodshed. This person saved lives tonight. On behalf of the City of Greenwood, I am grateful for his quick action and heroism in this situation.” GREENWOOD MAYOR MARK MYERS
South Fulton, Georgia, May 3, 2022
A teenager started firing his gun at multiple people. There was a large number of people present at the park because of an anti-violence riot.
South Fulton, Georgia: . . . Meadows said the men involved in the shootout with Hambrick have been cooperative and will likely not be charged since the teenager fired the first shot.
“After having reviewed most of the witnesses statements, it appears that the decedent Mr. Hambrick discharged his weapon first, and as a result of that there was an exchange of gunfire between him and two individuals,” he said. . . .Fox 5 Atlanta Digital Team, “Charges not likely in shootout that killed teen near ‘Stop the Violence’ rally, police say,” Fox 5 Atlanta, May 3, 2022.
Atlanta, Georgia, April 30, 2022
The group of women, including three sisters, were celebrating a birthday at a Cleveland Avenue apartment complex when a neighbor started yelling at them, claiming they disrespected his sister. The suspect then pulled out a gun and started shooting. Four women are injured. One of the victims grabbed her gun and shot the man to death.
Atlanta police said the shooting happened after a fight started at an apartment complex on Cleveland Ave. Saturday night.
Three sisters along with a handful of other family members were celebrating the birthday of one of those sisters when they said a man living in the apartment complex came charging out…
Channel 2′s Tom Regan spoke to a woman who was a part of the celebration and was not shot. She said the man started accusing the group of disrespecting his sister, someone they didn’t even know. They said that is when 22-year-old Delano Wells Jr. started fighting with them.
“When we fell on the ground, he got up and got his gun and he shot me in the legs,” said another family member. “After than he just started shooting everywhere. Bullets were flying everywhere, everyone was running and falling. it was terrible. Then I found my gun on the ground and I shot back, and I killed him. It wasn’t my intention but I had to protect my family”.
By the time the shooting stopped, three sisters and one of their niece’s had been shot. Wells was dead at the scene. The entire family was thankful for the one family member able to shoot back…
The woman who fired the fateful shots said police told her she will not face charges.
WSBTV.com News Staff, “3 sisters shot celebrating birthday, woman hit 8 times survives,” WSBTV.com, May 3, 2022.
Phenix City, Alabama, April 13, 2022
Two suspects went to the truck shop over a dispute from earlier in the day. One got out of his vehicle and begin to shoot at four people standing outside the business. One of the intended victims with a concealed handgun permit had his own firearm and returned fire, striking both suspects. The business owner Paul Thrasher said “if there would not have been returned fire, he would have advanced on us we would have had a fatality. Thank God for my employees.”
A Phenix City business owner believes the military training of one of his employees helped him survive a shootout at his business.
A business owner Paul Thrasher said an argument sparked when two customers refused to pay their bill.
Warrants have been signed for the arrest of both Andrew McDaniel and Justin Lott for attempted murder…
Thrasher said the men left the store in a white car to get the money, but when they arrived, Thrasher said McDaniel started to fight. Officers arrested McDaniel and charged him with disorderly conduct…
Later, Thrasher said he and three employees were standing outside the business when he recognized the white car from earlier that day.
“The driver got out of the car leaned across the top of the car with a pistol and I hollered “He’s got a gun” At that point of time the father was shooting from inside the car and the son was shooting across the car at us.”…
“If there would not have been returned fire, he would have advanced on us we would have had a fatality. Thank God for my employees.”…
After the shootout, no one works there alone now, he said, though he and his workers all have guns they are licensed to carry concealed…
Reagan Ranzer, “Customer’s refusal to pay bill leads to shooting at Phenix City business,” WTVM, April 15, 2022. Tim Chitwood, “‘Completely senseless.’ Phenix City truck shop owner recalls shootout that wounded two,” Ledger-Enquirer, April 20, 2022.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 19, 2022
The suspect got out of a car stopped in the middle of the street and began shooting at a house party with around 100 people inside, mostly temple students. The 30-year-old male homeowner was hit in the stomach and a 19-year-old woman was shot in the foot. Investigators say the suspect had been upset about a car accident earlier in the night. A gun permit holder at the scene fired back.
A gunman wounded two people after pulling out a gun and firing at a house party which was being attended by both students and community members near Temple University, police said.
The wounded included a 19-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man, the latter of which organized the party of around 100 people at a rowhome on the 1800 block of Diamond Street in North Philadelphia, just a few blocks from the university’s campus, Philadelphia Police Department Capt. John Walker said…
Police initially said the female victim was 21 and that the gunman used an AK-47 rifle, but they later updated the woman’s age and said the shooter used a handgun.
The gunman fired around 13 shots, striking other homes nearby, Walker said. He added that the bullets didn’t appear to have pierced the home where the party was taking place…
A man at the scene with a gun permit fired back at least two shots, the police captain said, noting that the second man was being investigated.
The shooting, which happened around 1:50 a.m. Saturday, may have stemmed from some sort of car accident, Walker said, though he did not elaborate…
Rudy Chinchilla, “2 Hurt as Gunman Fires at House Party Near Temple U., Police Say,” NBC Philadelphia, March 19, 2022.
Portland, Oregon, February 19, 2022
A homeowner allegedly confronted participants at a racial justice demonstration Saturday night before pulling out a handgun and shooting multiple people in the crowd, leaving one woman dead and several others injured. The shooting ended when a person with the group of demonstrators, who is licensed to conceal carry a firearm, fired back, striking the homeowner in the hip.
The suspect in a weekend shooting that left one woman dead and four people wounded during a protest in Portland, Oregon, faces several charges, including murder, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The shooting unfolded Saturday night after Benjamin Smith, described by police as an homeowner, allegedly confronted a group of demonstrators who were protesting the killing of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police, authorities said…
“Several participants asked Smith to leave them alone. Moments later, Smith drew a firearm and fired at the crowd, striking five people,” the DA’s office said in the news release…
The shooting ended when a person with the group of demonstrators shot Smith in the “hip area,” critically wounding him. Law enforcement originally detained that person on charges of first degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, both felonies. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office ultimately decided to bring “no complaint” against the person “based upon our review of facts and evidence.”
OPB has chosen not to name the person because they have not been charged with a crime, and they did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Court records show the person is licensed to conceal carry a firearm…
Conrad Wilson and Ryan Haas, “Multnomah County prosecutor charges suspected park shooter with murder,” Oregon Public Broadcasting, February 22, 2022.
Jennifer Henderson and Michelle Watson, “Suspect in deadly shooting during weekend protest in Portland faces several charges, including murder,” CNN, February 23, 2022.
South Central, Nebraska, October 22, 2021
A man fired from a south central Nebraska grain complex Thursday returned to the facility and started shooting at his former colleagues killing two, and injuring another according to the Nebraska State Patrol.
The gunman, identified as Max Hoskinson, 61, was shot and killed by another employee of the Agrex facility in Superior, Nebraska. . . .
According to investigators, Hoskinson returned to Agrex shortly before 2:00 p.m. and opened fire with a handgun. He was stopped by someone who used a shotgun stored in the Agrex office to shoot the gunman. . . .
“Grain complex worker stops active shooter using shotgun stored in office,” KETV, October 22, 2021.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, October 17, 2021
On Sunday, October 17, 2021, four people were injured after a fight between two teenagers at Lancaster’s Park City Center Mall escalated into a shooting this past weekend. A 16-year-old who was illegally carrying a gun started the shooting. But it could have been much worse were it not for a concealed handgun permit holder. Fortunately, 14.4% of adults in Pennsylvania have a concealed handgun permit.
A bystander armed with a gun intervened in a shooting in Park City Center on Sunday afternoon, shooting one of the participants, Lancaster police said.
The unidentified bystander, who legally possessed the firearm, had heard gunshots related to a fight between two males that knew each other, police said. The bystander remained on scene until security and police arrived.
Police said the initial shooting stemmed from an altercation between two males who knew each other and at least one of them — a 16-year-old boy — had a gun.
They, and other people then struggled for the gun and the 16 year old fired at least two shots, striking at least one of the people involved.
The bystander, who had been in a store nearby, heard the shots, came over and “then engaged the subjects fighting over the gun and fired shots, striking one of the suspects.” . . .
Dan Nephin, “Armed bystander intervenes, shoots Park City shooter; charges pending against 16-year-old: police,” Lancaster Online, October 18, 2021.
Shreveport, Louisiana, September 21, 2021
A man entered the store with a gun and got into some sort of argument with a couple of employees. Then he allegedly pointed the gun at employees and customers, and started firing shots. One of the employees grabbed his own gun and returned fire.
The shooting happened around shortly after midnight at NLB Grocery in the 700 block of W. 70th St.
According to the Shreveport Police Department, 30-year-old Cedric Grant walked into the store and made threats to the employees behind the counter. Then Grant allegedly pulled out a gun and started firing shots.
An innocent bystander was shot in the lower back and taken by a private vehicle to Ochsner LSU Health. He underwent surgery and is expected to recover from his injuries.
Detectives said an employee also pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots at Grant, who was taken to Ochsner LSU Health with several gunshot wounds in undisclosed condition.
Although still in the hospital, at 7:16 a.m. Tuesday, Shreveport police arrested Grant on two counts of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.
Nikki Henderson, “SPD: 2 wounded, 1 arrested in early morning shooting at Shreveport convenience store,” KTAL NBC 6, September 21, 2021.
Syracuse, New York, August 31, 2021
The District Attorney credited a property manager with saving the lives of several individuals after he pulled a legally possessed 9mm handgun and fatally wounded a man who opened fire on a crowd outside a building.
Demetrius Jackson, the man killed in the Lodi Street shooting on Tuesday, was in possession of a loaded 9mm handgun while outside of 1808 Lodi Street, District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said.
Jackson threatened multiple people at the location and fired the loaded handgun in the direction of those people, officials said.
Another man, who was on scene and in possession of a 9mm handgun returned fire striking and killing Jackson, Fitzpatrick said.
According to Fitzpatrick, this man has a valid pistol permit for the 9mm handgun.
The District Attorney said in a statement that based on preliminary investigation, it appears the man who shot Jackson saved the lives of several individuals…
The District Attorney’s Office is aware that the man who shot Jackson and other witnesses to the incident have received threats and suffered property damage in what they say appears to be retaliation…
Natalie Dascoulias, “Onondaga County District Attorney: Man ‘saved the lives of several individuals’ after fatally shooting man who fired at crowd,” LOCALSYR.com, September 2, 2021.
Melbourne, Florida, August 28, 2021
A quick-thinking Melbourne barbershop owner shot and disarmed a disgruntled customer who returned to the shop with a firearm and pointed it at several people, including customers, barbers, and two young children.
The situation unfolded Saturday at the New York Hair Barbershop on West Florida Avenue in Melbourne…
The owner of the barbershop told Melbourne police Marlon Mascoe, 24, came in and was waiting for another barber to cut his hair. The owner offered to cut his hair instead but Mascoe declined. The owner said he made a joke that he wasn’t good enough to cut Mascoe’s hair and said Mascoe had “nappy hair like me.” The owner said Mascoe appeared upset and walked out.
About 10 minutes later, the owner was cutting another person’s hair when Mascoe returned wearing a face mask and holding a black handgun. He also had a hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head, according to the report. The barber said he recognized Mascoe by his “Jamaican accent” and because he had been in the shop just a few minutes prior.
The barber said Mascoe said, “This is real, this is a real gun” and pointed the weapon at barbers and patrons in the shop…
As Mascoe continued to point the gun at people, the shop owner said he retrieved his firearm and ducked behind a barber chair.
The barber said when Mascoe turned, he took the opportunity to shoot him. After Mascoe was on the ground, the barber instructed someone else to call 911, according to the report…
Multiple witnesses confirmed the barbershop owner’s account and that they were in fear for their lives…
Police formally charged Mascoe on Thursday at the hospital with displaying a firearm during the commission of a felony, and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon…
Emilee Speck, “This is chaos:’ Barbershop owner describes shooting armed man pointing gun at children, patrons,” Click Orlando, September 3, 2021.
Las Vegas, Nevada, August 13, 2021
A fight broke out among a group of people drinking in the parking lot when one person retrieved a handgun from the vehicle and began shooting at the others, injuring six people described as “older teenagers.” An unidentified person fired back, striking the initial shooter, who was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.
About 12:15 a.m. on Aug. 13, Las Vegas police responded to a shooting in the 3100 block of East Sunset Road. One person died of their injuries at Sunrise hospital, Officer Larry Hadfield told FOX5. Five others were transported to the hospital by private citizens.
Police said several people were loitering and drinking in a parking lot when a fight broke out, and that the person who had died had taken a handgun out of a vehicle and started shooting into a crowd, injuring six older teenagers.
Police said at some point, an unidentified person fired back, striking the initial shooter.
Anthony Emilian, 18, died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Clark County Coroner’s Office…
Homicide logs maintained by Metro show no one was arrested in Emilian’s death because it was considered self-defense…
Ashley Casper, “1 dead, 6 teens injured after overnight shooting near Sunset, Pecos roads,” FOX 5 Vegas, August 13, 2021.
Sabrina Schnur, “3 arrested in retaliatory murder, Las Vegas police say,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 26, 2021.
San Antonio, Texas, August 11, 2021
A woman who crashed into a parked car in San Antonio’s West Side neighborhood climbed out of her vehicle and began shooting indiscriminately at people who came out of their homes and rush to her aid. The armed resident fired back and shot the driver to death, ending the violent threat to the neighborhood.
Police are investigating a shooting that left two people dead and two others in the hospital. It happened outside a home on the 400 block of Hazel Street on the West Side.
It all started just before 10 p.m. Wednesday night when a driver was traveling at high speed and crashed into a parked car – and then for some reason she got out of the car and started firing.
The owner of the vehicle that was hit, a man in his 50’s, and two others came out to see what happened. That’s when the female driver got out of the car and opened fire, hitting all three people…
“During the shooting, a neighbor from a nearby residence, intervenes, comes to the aids of the victims, opens fire on our suspect, striking her multiple times,” Schuler said.
Schuler said it does not appear that the neighbor who fatally shot Perez will face any charges…
SBG San Antonio Staff, “Woman opens fire and kills man, injures two others after smashing into parked car,” FOX San Antonio, August 11, 2021.
Katrina Webber, Tim Stewart, Emily Martin, “Authorities ID woman, man shot and killed in West Side neighborhood,” KSAT, August 14, 2021.
Fort Meyers, Florida, July 22, 2021
A man, who was a convicted felon and illegally possessing a gun, fired multiple shots into a crowd before a bystander returned fire. When the bystander confronted the attacker, he stopped attacking and “threw his gun in a parking lot.” Fortunately, no one was injured in the attack.
A man was arrested after being accused of shooting toward a crowd before a bystander returned fire.
The Fort Myers PD ShotSpotter detected multiple shots fired Thursday afternoon around 4:20 p.m. in the area of Henderson Avenue and Thomas Street near an abandoned building.
When police arrived, they arrested David Williams, 50, after a struggle and holding him at Taser-point.
Witnesses say Williams had “an object” in his jacket pocket that he began banging on a bench – which turned out to be a gun. They say he did it multiple times before pulling it out and firing toward a crowd of people.
One of the men in the crowd pulled out his own gun and returned fire in the direction of Williams.
The report states Williams then threw his gun in a parking lot. . . .
Staff, “Man arrested for shooting toward a crowd; bystander shoots back,” WINK News, July 23, 2021.
Chicago, Illinois, July 4, 2021
It seems likely that if the concealed handgun permit holder hadn’t intervened in this case there would have been at least three deaths instead of just the one woman.
The gunman who shot three people standing in a South Austin alley on the Fourth of July may have gotten away with the brazen attack that left a woman dead — had a witness with a concealed carry license not stepped in, a Chicago police statement suggests.
Officers were called to the first block of North Menard Avenue around 10:45 p.m. Sunday and found a total of four people shot, a police notification said. But one of the injured men was alleged to be the gunman who had shot the other three people before an uninvolved witness pulled his own gun and shot the attacker, officials said.
Initially, three people, including a 45-year-old woman, had been shot as they stood outside in an alley, police said. A 33-year-old man approached and “began shooting at the victims,” according to the police notification.
The woman suffered a gunshot wound to the head and she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. Although officials had said she was 30, around 8:30 a.m. a police spokeswoman said the woman’s age had been corrected to 45. . . .
Nearby, a second, uninvolved 49-year-old man witnessed the attack, police said. He had a concealed carry license, which allowed him to legally possess a weapon. That man drew his weapon and shot at the gunman who had allegedly killed the woman and wounded the two men, officials said. . . .
KATHERINE ROSENBERG-DOUGLAS, “3 people shot, man with concealed carry license steps in, shoots gunman, Chicago police say,” CHICAGO TRIBUNE, JUL 05, 2021
Arvada, Colorado, June 21, 2021
The attacker and two other people were killed in this attack. This is the one instance we know of where someone legally carried a gun in a non-gun-free zone where a police officer accidentally shot the hero.
A good Samaritan who was killed in a shooting in Arvada, Colorado, . . . “He did not hesitate; he didn’t stand there and think about it. He totally heard the gunfire, went to the door, saw the shooter, and immediately ran in that direction,” Troyanos said. “I just want to make sure his family knows how heroic he was.” . . .
Troyanos said he witnessed Hurley confront the gunman. “Mr. Hurley shot him. I think I heard 6 shots from his gun, maybe 5,” Troyanos said. . . .
The police chief said Hurley is a true hero who likely disrupted what could have been a larger loss of life. . . .
KMGH staff, “Witness says good Samaritan shot gunman in deadly Colorado shooting incident,” WRTV ABC, June 23, 2021.
Unfortunately, this is the one case that we know of where a person legally carrying a permitted concealed handgun was fatally shot by police later arriving on scene.
The police in Arvada, Colo., said a good Samaritan who fatally shot a gunman who had just killed a police officer was himself shot by responding officers.
Jesus Jiménez and Eduardo Medina, “Bystander Who Intervened in Shooting of Officer Was Fatally Shot by Police,” New York Times, June 25, 2021.
Crowley, Louisiana, May 29, 2021
Patrons’ attempts to oust an inebriated man from the bar ended in a shootout. Jeno John Holcomb Jr., 18, opened fire toward the gathered crowd, shooting three people, including the woman he came in with. One person in the crowd returned fire and struck the suspect, who then fled the scene and was located in front of a bar nearby with multiple gunshot wounds.
Police reported that, on May 29, a domestic altercation occurred inside City Bar and patrons forced the suspect, identified as Holcomb, to leave the bar.
Holcomb reportedly returned to the bar and was forced to leave a second time, this time by physical force.
Once outside, Holcomb allegedly drew a 9 mm firearm from his waistband and began firing in the direction of the crowd of people, injuring three.
One patron of the bar reportedly went to his vehicle, acquired a firearm and returned fire with his own 9 mm, hitting Holcomb, who was taken into custody outside another bar on North Parkerson Avenue…
Crowley Today Staff, “Charges Filed in May 29 Shooting Outside Local Bar,” Crowley Today, June 18, 2021.
Fort Smith, Arkansas, May 15, 2021
Zachary Arnold, 26, fatally shot Lois Hicks, 87, in her apartment and then began shooting at other people in neighboring apartments. Wallace A. West, 58, used a rifle, not a concealed handgun, to stop the attack.
“Mr. West acted lawfully when he shot Mr. Arnold and likely saved a number of lives in the process,” a Police Department news release states. “At last count, Mr. Arnold had fired 93 rounds from his semiautomatic rifle before Mr. West was able to stop him. There were no other fatalities or injuries, though a number of residents were home at the time of the assault.”
Thomas Saccente, “Prosecutor says deadly physical force justified in Fort Smith shooting,” Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, July 29, 2021
Hicks was shot multiple times inside of her apartment by Arnold who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle. Arnold continued to shoot his rifle at neighboring apartments. A resident at the apartments heard the gunshots and got a hunting rifle which he used to shoot and kill Arnold. . . . .
Nayely Palafox, “Fort Smith Police investigate shooting that left two people dead,” Channel 5 News (Springdale, AR), May 15, 2021.
Metairie, Louisiana, February 20, 2021
Having murdered two people and wounded a couple of others, it is clear that the attacker intended to kill as many people as possible. The quick response by people with concealed handgun permits stopped the attack.
A person entered a gun store and shooting range in a New Orleans suburb and fatally shot two people Saturday, prompting customers and staff to open fire on the shooter, a sheriff said. The shooter also died. . . . Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said the shooter initially struck two people inside, and then several other people . . .
Stacey Plaisance, “Customers, staff fired back in gun store shooting; 3 dead,” Associated Press, February 20, 2021.
“(Williams) became agitated by the request and pulled his gun out of his pants and started firing. Our armed and trained employees, as well as some armed, permitted customers, returned fire and eliminated the threat. One customer as well as one employee perished in the gun battle. Joshua Williams, the gunman, is also dead.”
Bob D’Angelo, “Gunman, 2 victims identified in Louisiana gun shop shooting,” Cox Media Group National Content Desk, February 21, 2021.
Hickory, North Carolina, February 14, 2021
Jordan Olajuwon Ramseur was shot and killed by a patron as he was shooting at the grouping of people gathered outside of the establishment’s front entrance.
No charges were filed in a Valentine’s Day shooting outside the Stump Event Center that left one man dead. The Catawba County Sheriff’s Office said Monday the case is closed…
Witnesses told investigators Ramseur went to get a gun from his car after he was involved in a fight outside the venue, according to the previous release. Ramseur was shot and killed by someone in the parking lot.
Capt. Aaron Turk said following the investigation, the sheriff’s office concluded Ramseur was the first to fire his weapon and shot into the crowd of people.
The Catawba County Sheriff’s Office turned their findings over to District Attorney Scott Reilly’s office where officials declined to charge the person who shot Ramseur, Turk said.
Turk added that the sheriff’s office will not release the name of the person who shot Ramseur since the person was not charged. Turk said that decision is partly for the person’s protection.
Kristen Hart, “No charges in Stump Event Center shooting,” Hickory Daily Record, June 14, 2021.
Lexington, South Carolina, November 28, 2020
Christopher James Costello, 22, fired shots at people in front of a Pear Court home. A concealed weapons permit holder fired back in defense of himself and the other victims and struck the gunman in the upper torso.
Lexington County deputies have arrested a Cayce man who was shot in self-defense after investigators said he fired first in a Saturday night shooting…
“After taking statements from the victims and witnesses, detectives determined Costello fired a few rounds at people in front of a Pear Court home, including two people he had been following in his car to that location,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. “We’ve confirmed one of the people is a former girlfriend of Costello’s, another is a concealed weapons permit holder.”
The CWP holder returned fire in self-defense and struck Costello in the upper body, according to Koon. Costello’s injury is not life-threatening…
ABC Columbia Site Staff, “Suspect arrested after being shot in self-defense by armed victim,” ABC Columbia, December 1, 2020.
Marion, South Carolina, November 5, 2020
The suspect, Waldo Crawford, fired shots twice into the crowd, first while driving by and then after parking and walking toward a crowd of people on Jaycee Terrace. During this second confrontation, an intended victim returned fire, striking Crawford.
A man has now been charged with unlawful carrying of a firearm and discharging a firearm into city limits.
The suspect, Waldo Crawford, got the charges after he fired several shots from an assault rifle into a crowd of people Thursday night on Jaycee Terrace in Marion, according to Marion Police Chief Keith Parks.
Chief Parks said Crawford initially drove by and fired shots. He added Crawford then parked his car into a field, walked toward the crowd and then fired his weapon.
Reports say someone in the crowd returned fire and shot Crawford in the leg…
Crawford was then booked into the Marion County Detention Center…
Tonya Brown, “Man arrested after firing gunshots into a crowd in Marion, police say,” WPDE, November 6, 2020.
Weslaco, Texas, August 17, 2020
A man upset because of a medical condition was planning to shoot people at a Weslaco, Texas Walmart. Man was “very upset” because he had his plans were stopped.
A Decatur native is being called a hero in plain clothes after his Army background kicked in. . . .
It was Monday, Aug. 17 . . . at the Walmart in Weslaco.
“I just didn’t want him to kill innocent people,” Allen said as recounted seeing a man walking into the store dressed in black and carrying an AK-47. . . .
While most would retreat and call 911 seeing something like that, not knowing what the man’s intentions were, Allen was not about to stand back. He jumped into action.
You’re not going to shoot anyone in this store today,” he said. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
Allen held the man a gunpoint with a store security guard. His actions led to the man putting down the gun. “He was totally surprised. Got him to put the AK-47 down. He was very upset because I had destroyed his plans.” . . .
The man who Allen confronted did have another gun on him. Police said he pulled it on officers, and officers returned fire, killing the man. The police chief told media the man was upset over a medical condition.
Chris Carter, “‘I chose to not be a victim’: Decatur native credited with stopping Texas mass shooting,” WAND Television NBC Channel 17, August 20, 2020.
Salt Lake City, Utah, August 15, 2020
The shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. when 27-year-old Gustav Denecamp was reportedly patted down, but then left and re-entered through another door. He began firing several rounds into the ceiling and pointing it at customers, threatening them. A nightclub employee ran to retrieve his own firearm from his vehicle, returned, and fatally shot the armed man to protect others. The nightclub released its own statement on the shooting, stating: “Thanks to the quick actions by an employee to stop the shooter, our patrons and staff were unharmed.”
“I think we’re very lucky we didn’t have more people injured,” said Salt Lake City Police Detective Greg Wilking. . . .
Wilking said the shooting began about 1:30 a.m. Saturday when a man initially left the club at 134 West Pierpont Avenue. He came back through another door and began firing a weapon in the air and pointing it at customers according to witnesses.
A nightclub employee then went to his vehicle, retrieved his own gun, and returned and shot the man.
Lee Davidson, “One dead, two arrested following SLC nightclub shooting,” Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 15, 2020.
Dallas, Texas, July 25, 2020, Fox 4 News (Dallas)
Dallas police said three men were shot and a woman was hit by shrapnel when someone opened fire outside a sports bar in North Oak Cliff Saturday night.
The shooter was reportedly among three men who were turned away from Harris House of Heroes II sports bar, just before midnight, because the establishment was at full capacity. . . .
Police said the shooter went to the back of the sports bar, where he was “confronted by armed partrons,” and they exchanged gunfire.
The shooter fled before police arrived, and remains at-large.
David Sentendrey, “4 injured in shooting at Dallas sports bar after men not allowed in due to COVID-19 restrictions,” Fox 4 News (Dallas), July 26, 2020.
Brownsburg, Indiana, July 16, 2020, WISHTV (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Fortunately, one of the people wounded in this shooting had a permitted concealed handgun and was able to then get out of his car and shoot the attacker. Indiana has 18.5% of the adult population with concealed handgun permits.
22-year-old Joshua Christopher Hayes launched an unprovoked attack against two men working in Brownsburg Cemetery Tuesday around 1:15 p.m. Hayes first chased 36-year-old Seth Robertson to a nearby intersection before he fatally shot Robertson.
Hayes then chased after the second man and shot a third man who was stopped at a traffic light nearby. The third man was legally armed and fatally shot Hayes.
“This tragic event could have been much more disastrous. So, victim three not only saved victim two’s life, but he saved potentially the lives of many others,” BPD Capt. Jennifer Barrett. “Victim three did exactly what anybody would have wanted him to do at that scene that day.”
Travis Robinson, “Mental health issues contributed to fatal Brownsburg shooting,” WISHTV (Indianapolis), July 16, 2020.
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, July 10, 2020
A prosecutor says a bystander will face no charges for shooting a suspect who authorities said had just gunned down his ex-wife and another man in the parking lot of a central Pennsylvania restaurant last week…
Authorities said the man was waiting to be seated inside the restaurant when a man drove into the parking lot, got out of his pickup truck and opened fire, killing 52-year-old Matthew Bowersox of Mifflinburg and 46-year-old Heather Campbell of Trevorton.
The restaurant customer, who is licensed to carry a firearm, shot and wounded Fernanders as he walked back to his pickup truck. “Thankfully, he helped prevent further bloodshed,” Piecuch said. . . .
Erie News Now Staff, “DA: No charges in shooting of suspect after double murder outside Pa. restaurant,” Erie News Now, Wednesday, July 15th 2020
Louisville, Kentucky, June 27, 2020 (USA Today)
Steven Nelson Lopez, 23, is facing charges of murder and first-degree wanton endangerment, Louisville Metro Police officials said Sunday after releasing his arrest citation…
Several witnesses identified Lopez, who had frequented the park, as the shooter. And video surveillance showed him shooting a handgun into the crowd, the citation says.
Several bystanders returned fire, shooting Lopez in the leg, according to the citation.
Lucas Aulbach, “What we know about Steven Lopez, the suspect in the fatal Louisville protest shooting,” Louisville Courier Journal, June 27, 2020.
Kwethluk, Alaska, May 16, 2020, multiple sources.
This attack appears to have been a well-planned mass public shooting where the attacker had brought multiple guns and a bullet-resistant vest and helmet. The fact that the attacker was charged with four counts of attempted murder shows what might have happened if the armed civilian who stopped the attack hadn’t been present.
According to state troopers, a 19-year-old man, Brian Nicolai, broke into the village public safety building dressed for combat. He staged rifles inside, and activated the fire alert system. When village police officers responded, the officers say that Nicolai shot at them. But no one was hurt, largely thanks to an armed resident who got Nicolai to give up his weapon and lie on the ground. . . .
Kwethluk’s Public Safety Administrative Chief, Nicolai Joseph, said that a potential mass shooting was avoided on May 16. According to state troopers, Brian Nicolai was wearing a bullet-proof vest and helmet when he activated the village fire alert system. Village Police Officer Tiger Lee was the first to respond to the fire alarm. When he arrived, he said that Nicolai pointed a rifle at him and pulled the trigger. . . .
That resident was Casey Thompson, according to the trooper’s report. Thompson, armed with a rifle, was able to get the shooter to drop his weapon, the report said. Thompson declined to talk with KYUK about the incident.
Lee said that he’s glad Thompson had a gun . . . .
Greg Kim, “After armed resident thwarts shooting, Kwethluk VPOs consider carrying guns,” KYUK, May 22, 2020.
Brian Nicolai, of Kwethluk, is charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, third-degree assault, first-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief and first-degree criminal trespass. He was arraigned Saturday in Bethel court. . . .
A Kwethluk resident who saw what was happening left the scene, returned with a rifle and talked Nicolai into lowering his weapon. Nicolai lay down on the floor and was quickly subdued by village police officers.
Bethel-based troopers in Kwethluk responded to a report of an active shooter inside the public safety building at 5:18 p.m . . .Dorothy Chomicz, “Man in Southwest Alaska charged with shooting at police officer,” Fairbanks Daily News, May 18, 2020.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, March 27, 2020, Channel 6
A woman named Ashley Porter started firing at a group of people who were standing in a parking lot outside a marijuana dispensary in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Picture of Ashley Porter, the attacker.
. . . Detectives say Porter got into an argument with someone near a convenience store over a parking spot.
They say surveillance video from the marijuana dispensary next door shows the argument, then Porter leaving in her car.
They say the video shows Porter coming back minutes later and firing shots toward the crowd of people in front of the store.
Detectives say an armed citizen pulled out a gun and fired back, killing porter. . . .
Detectives say the armed citizen was questioned and released. . . .
Reagan Ledbetter, “Family Devastated After Woman Killed In Tulsa,” NewsOn6, March 30th 2020.
Additional stories are available here and here.
Near Fort Worth, Texas, December 29, 2019
Note: The above video puts up some options in the top left hand corner that block seeing one of the parishioners who shot the murderer.
Three people, including the shooter, were shot in attack just before 10 a.m. at the West Freeway Church of Christ at 1900 south Las Vegas Trail in White Settlement, which is near Fort Worth. The attacker died at the scene after being shot by two of the parishioners. Four other parishioners also drew their permitted concealed handguns.
The Tarrant county sheriff at press conference after the shooting: “Good people stepped up and stopped it before it got worse.”
“The citizens who were inside that church undoubtedly saved 242 other parishioners, and that might get swept aside,” Texas DPS Director Jeoff Williams said. “It was miraculous. The true heroes in all this are the people who were sitting in those pews today and responded, the immediate responders … it was truly heroic.”
Duncan, Oklahoma, November 18, 2019
There was a shooting at a Walmart parking lot in Duncan, Oklahoma that left two people murdered.
From USA Today (though it is buried in the story): “Aaron Helton, an Army veteran, said he was at the Walmart around 9:45 a.m. when he heard nine shots and saw the gunman, weapon in hand. According to Helton, another man walked up, put a pistol to the gunman’s head and told him to stop shooting. Helton said he saw the shooter was turning the gun on himself and looked away.”
From CNN, after killing two people in the parking lot, “the shooter shot himself after a bystander confronted him with a firearm.“
From KSWO ABC Channel 7 in Oklahoma: “Multiple witnesses have said the gunman shot two people in a vehicle and a civilian with a gun confronted him, causing the gunman to turn the gun on himself. We are working to confirm that story with Duncan police.“
Newnan, Georgia, August 13, 2019
This is an amazing story that was caught on video. An employee who wasn’t even scheduled to work that day, but was simply hanging around the bar outside in the parking lot, stopped an attack that the police say would have likely resulted in multiple deaths. Note in the cover picture for this video that the bar has multiple gun free zone signs. From Fox 5 in Atlanta:
Deputies in Coweta County say an armed off-duty employee may have stopped a mass shooting at a crowded bar in Newnan Saturday morning.
FOX 5 News has the exclusive surveillance video of the shooting outside Fat Boys Bar and Grill on Highway 16. Deputies say that video shows Kevintez Mathewis on his way into the bar with a handgun when Ben McCoy confronts him and is shot multiple times. He drew the gunman’s attention and then drew his fire. . . .
From Channel 11 News in Atlanta:
McCoy heard the shots and grabbed his gun. Investigators reportedly said that Matthewis fired several rounds at McCoy. “He put his life on the line to try and protect the bar that he loves,” bar manager Emily McGhin said. . .
Colonial Heights, Tennessee, February 13, 2019A shooting at a dentist office in Colonial Heights, Tennessee was stopped by Larry Seagroves, a concealed handgun permit holder. After the killer, Harry Weaver, fatally shot one person, Kelly Weaver, his wife, he turned his gun on other people in the office. One of them, a dental hygienist, Sabrina Steal, said: “then he raised a gun to shoot me” (see video). Larry Seagroves shot the killer, wounding him before he could shoot these other people. After the attack, Harry Weaver told the police: “You all wouldn’t be dealing with me right now if the hero hadn’t stepped in.”
WJHL TV Channel 11 in Johnson City, Tennessee reports: “It was just a horrific situation that police said could have possibly been even worse if a patient at that dentist office didn’t take action. We are talking about a man identified as Larry Seagroves, a man with a carry permit.”
Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy said: “He was a concealed carry permit holder and I’m going to call him a hero today.”
The court hearing reported in the video took place on March 22, 2019. More information is available here.
*Huntsville*, Alabama, January 16, 2019
After a man opened fire on employees at a Huntsville IHOP restaurant late Wednesday, one of the workers pulled out his own gun and fatally shot the suspect, authorities said…
The deadly situation started when Turner went to pick up a to-go order before 10 p.m. Police said Turner got into a fight with employees because he was apparently upset about the food service. Turner got a gun and started shooting at employees, killing Brown, police said…
Ashley Remkus, “IHOP employee kills man who fatally shot his father, police say,” AL.com, January 17, 2019.
Friends and customers are praising the actions of an IHOP employee after he stopped the gunman who had just killed his dad…
WAAY 31 spoke with people who say they are proud of Jay Brown for taking matters into his own hands before an already tragic situation could become even worse–saying he potentially saved a lot of lives…
“I’m glad he was carrying. I think it’s fantastic. I love knowing that the good guys have guns so that, if the bad guys act up, the good guys can protect themselves,” Powell added.
Both said they were glad Brown was able to protect the other people who were working and eating inside the restaurant as well.
“It was obviously an incident where a good thing happened because somebody was armed,” Powell said. “Obviously, he helped save lives. I would love it if the staff kept weapons.”
Scottie Kay, “Friends, Customers Praise Man for Stopping Gunman at IHOP,” WAAY TV, January 18, 2019.
Birmingham, Alabama, October 27, 2018A masked man entered a McDonald’s restaurant and immediately started firing his gun. A concealed handgun permit holder returned firing killing the attacker.
“He’s my hero,” he said. “Because I can only imagine how it would’ve went if he wasn’t armed. We might not be here having this interview.” . . .
He said he heard more than 15 shots fired. . . .
— Markus Washington, an employee at the McDonalds’, to WAFF Channel 48 News
From WBRC Channel 6 in Birmingham, Alabama has this note:
A masked man entered the restaurant when an employee opened the door for a father and his sons to leave. The masked man then opened fire in the restaurant. At that point, the father began shooting at the masked man. Both the father and the masked man were struck along with one of the children. Police later confirmed that the masked man is now deceased, and the father had non-life threatening injuries. A minor had non-life-threatening injuries.
The motive of the attacker isn’t clear. While it is possible that robbery was the motive, the fact that the attacker immediately began firing his gun as soon as he entered the restaurant means it is very likely that his goal was most likely just to kill people.
Louisville, Kentucky, Wednesday, October 24, 2018The national media has picked up on this story because of the killer, Gregory Bush, is racist, but they are ignoring the fact that a white civilian with a concealed handgun permit stopped the attack. Both the people murdered at the Koger — Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vickie Jones, 67 — were black. Bush had apparently tried to do an attack at a black church before shooting blacks at the Kroger indicates he was trying to kill as many blacks as possible and that the number of blacks killed could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the concealed handgun permit holder.
The Louisville Courier Journal reports that after Bush had visited the church:
The first call came into MetroSafe at 2:54 p.m. reporting that shots were fired inside the store. There were reports of “multiple injuries.” . . .
According to the Jeffersontown police, the suspect, Gregory Alan Bush, entered the grocery store and “gunned down” the first victim, and then exited the store where he killed the second victim.
While in the parking lot, a citizen who possessed a concealed carry permit engaged with the suspect, according to Jeffersontown police.
“Multiple rounds were fired by both the suspect and the intervening citizen,” Jeffersontown police wrote in a statement. “Neither the suspect nor the involved citizen, nor any other bystanders were injured with this exchange of gunfire.”
Bush fled the scene in his vehicle. Police located Bush and his vehicle on Hurstbourne Parkway, next to the Stony Brook Center, where he was taken into custody. . . .
Another story on the case notes: “The police chief clarified that . . . the woman killed in the parking lot was shot by the suspect before the exchange [with the permit holder] began . . . .”
Titusville, Florida, August 4, 2018A shooting at a back to school event for children and their families had a shooting that was quickly stopped by a concealed handgun permit holder. Something between 150 and 200 people (video here puts it at over 200), primarily children, were present at the event.
From Fox 32 WOFL in Orlando, Florida.
Titusville Police still have not released the name of the man who stopped the shooter at a park on Saturday, but they are calling him a hero.
The gunshots still echo across social media, after the emcee at Titusville’s Peace in the City event posted a Facebook live video of the shooting. When a good Samaritan carrying a licensed concealed weapon shot the attacker, police say he did the right thing.
“Based on the information that we’ve gathered,” said Titusville Police Sgt. William Amos. “This person stepped in and saved a lot of people’s lives.” . . .
Here is another statement from the Titusville Police via the Orlando Sentinel on the evening of August 6th, 2018.
Titusville Police are calling the bystander who shot a gunman who opened fire at a park full of kids on Saturday a “hero.” On Monday, police said they aren’t releasing the names of those involved and said the citizen who returned fire on the suspect won’t be facing charges.
“He’s a hero,” Titusville Police Sgt. Bill Amos said. “This park was filled with families and children and, at that time, it was an active shooter situation for him and he was trained enough to deal with it and he did.” . . .
Tumwater, Washington, June 18, 2018
“He is a hero,” Adams said. “He took action. I really think more people could have been shot… he saved us all.”
A wild rampage at a Walmart in Tumwater, Washington was stopped when three concealed handgun permit holders confronted and killed the attacker. The attacker had carjacked a vehicle that he drove to the Walmart. Once there, the attacker stole ammunition and then went out of the store, continuing to shoot at people. He unsuccessfully tried to carjack another vehicle, seriously wounding the driver. When he attempted to carjack a second car, two armed customers shot dead the attacker.
According to the local Fox affiliate and Fox News, the man who killed the attacker is a pastor with five kids who was out with his family.
More details are available at KOMO News here.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Thursday, May 24, 2018Two men who had handguns in their cars, Juan Carlos Nazario, 35, and Bryan Whittle, 39, stopped what likely would have been a mass shooting at Louie’s Grill & Bar in Oklahoma City. Police Capt. Bo Matthews said: “You can say they’re heroes, which is a very good thing to say.” Nazario is a security guard, and Whittle was able to legally carry a gun openly without a permit (it is unknown whether he had a concealed handgun permit, though it wasn’t necessary for this case). The shooter, Alexander Tilghman, shot at people “from a position outside the front door” of the restaurant. It was from that position that he was stopped by these two heroes. It turns out that Whittle’s shot killed the gunman.
From USA Today:
The two, police say, prevented what could have been a deadly attack Thursday night after they armed themselves and took down the shooter, Alexander Tilghman. Both say they don’t feel like heroes. . . .
The police captain also said this:
“They were able to shoot the suspect and put an end to a very dangerous situation,” Mathews said.
The way that the attack was stopped was described this way:
“Drop the gun!” [Nazario] yelled repeatedly. Tilghman didn’t respond. He raised the gun again and fired a round in the parking lot.
Nazario fired two shots. “He just fell to the ground.”
Despite a restaurant full of innocent lives potentially saved, Nazario said he doesn’t feel like a hero.
“I just can’t understand being called a hero when someone’s life was taken,” he said. “I just did what I had to do. I’m very glad no innocent lives were taken but ultimately, there was a life taken.” . . .
Both Alexander Tilghman, the killer, and Juan Carlos Nazario were security guards. We will continue to check whether Whittle had a concealed handgun permit.
The District Attorney issued this statement: “The two civilians who engaged, and ultimately neutralized the threat posed by Tilghman, were justified and compliant with the law when they employed deadly force.“
San Antonio, Texas, December 7, 2017 (ABC 13 in San Antonio, Time Magazine)This case is an exception to all the other cases shown here in that it received national coverage on Time magazine’s website. A man with a gun was about to start shooting a father’s children as they were walking out of a restroom when the father killed the attacker. This case was also unusual from the other cases above is that the attack was part of some other crime, a robbery. Police stated that the permit holder saved at least several lives. From ABC 13:
. . . Police say the robber approached the father around 8:30 Wednesday night while he was waiting for his kids to leave the bathroom.
That’s when the robber pointed his gun at the family.
The father pulled out his own gun and killed the robber in the middle of the dining area.
Police say the father is a licensed carrier. He is not facing any charges.
Officials also say the father saved several lives. . . .
Rockledge, Florida, November 17, 2017 (Florida Today, WFTV.com in Orlando)Two concealed handgun permit holders stopped an attack at Schlenker Automotive repair shop at 4:30 PM on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The attacker, Robert Bailey, was armed with a .45-caliber handgun and “multiple magazines” and killed one person and severely wounded another in the business’ parking lot. Bailey continued shooting inside the shop. From Florida Today:
Two other workers — both concealed weapons permit holders — confronted the gunman and engaged in a shootout that left the suspect wounded. Bailey continues to recover at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. . . .
Video here from WFTV stated: “The police say this could have been even worse.” “This business was packed today with customers and employees,” noted Karen Parks, a reporter at the scene. Parks also reported that the police referred to the permit holder as a “good samaritan.”
According to news reports, Bailey had no connection to the auto shop. Indeed, he didn’t even own a car. It appears as if Bailey had selected this target simply to kill people.
First Baptist Church of Sutherland Spring, Texas, November 5, 2017
This is another case that involved a rifle.
The armed civilian who used his assault rifle to stop Sunday’s mass murder of 26 Texas churchgoers has been hailed, rightly, as a hero, but Stephen Willeford is hardly unique. . . .
The former National Rifle Association instructor who lives next door to the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Spring, Texas, grabbed his AR-15-style rifle after hearing the gunfire and went over to investigate. Confronting the shooter, Devin Kelley, Willeford shot him in the leg and torso before Kelley dropped his weapon and fled the scene in his SUV.
As horrific as Kelley’s rampage was, it could have been much worse if it wasn’t for Stephen Willeford.
Andrew O’Reilly, “,” Fox News, November 8, 2017.Texas church shooting not the first time a good guy with gun takes down mass shooter
Clearlake Oaks, California, October 23, 2017 (FBI report on active shooter incidents for 2016-17)From the FBI report on page 5. At the first target, the killer was forced to stop his attack because of police arriving at the scene. At the second target, a concealed handgun permit holder forced the attacker to break off his attack.
On October 23, 2017, at 11:23 a.m., Alan Ashmore, 61, armed with a shotgun and a handgun, allegedly began firing into several homes and a vehicle in Clearlake Oaks, California, killing two people, includ-ing his father, and wounding one. Another person was wounded while fleeing out of a residence window. The shooter then shot and wounded a responding law enforcement officer before fleeing in his vehicle. The shooter drove to a nearby gas station and exchanged gunfire with the vendor, who possessed a valid firearms permit. The shooter fled the scene in his vehicle and drove to another gas station where he firedmore shots.
Antioch, Tennessee, September 24, 2017 (Chicago Tribune, Daily Caller) (the above picture shows a picture of Samson after he received treatment for his minor wound)A 25-year-old shooter, Emanuel Kidega Samson, killed one person in the parking lot, entered the church, and started shooting. A 22-year-old usher, Robert Engle, tried to wrestle with the shooter, but Samson is a very large bodybuilder, and Engle realized that he was not strong enough to stop him. During the scuffle, Samson pistol wiped Engle causing him to bleed from his head. Samson also shot himself, causing very minor wounds to his chest and arm. Engle then ran to his car and got his permitted concealed handgun. The usher came back into the church and confronted the attacker, holding him there at gunpoint until police arrived. With one dead and seven wounded, the attack could have been much worse.
Don Aaron, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, said Samson drove up to the church and shot and killed a woman who was standing near her vehicle in the parking lot. The shooter — who police said was armed with two handguns — then entered the church through a rear door, shooting and wounding six people inside.
At some point, the gunman also pistol-whipped a church usher, causing “significant injuries” to the man, Aaron said. The usher, 22-year-old Robert “Caleb” Engle, confronted the gunman, police said, and during a struggle, Samson was injured with a shot from his own gun. The usher then ran to his car and retrieved a handgun, police said.
Aaron said the usher ensured the gunman did not make any more movements until officers arrived on the scene. “It would appear he was not expecting to encounter a brave individual like the church usher,” Aaron said.
Police Chief Steve Anderson praised Engle for intervening: “We believe he is the hero today.” . . .
Video of Police Chief Steve Anderson’s comments:
He is the hero here. He is the person who stopped this madness in its tracks.
Arlington, Texas, May 3, 2017 (Dallas Morning News)This attack was stopped before more than one person was killed. Yet, the police spokesman made it clear that the concealed handgun permit holder “prevented further loss of life” and that the killer was “shooting at the front door” at the customers who were fleeing the restaurant. The headline on the Dallas Morning News story was: “‘Hero’ stopped mass murder by crazed bar patron who was armed to the teeth, police say.” Emphasis added in quotes below.
A concealed carry holder is being heralded as a “hero” by Arlington police for preventing mass murder by killing an “incoherent” gunman at a bar Wednesday evening.
Before he was shot about 6:15 p.m., the gunman killed the manager of Zona Caliente in the 6500 block of South Cooper Street, police spokesman Christopher Cook said.
Police later identified the gunman as 48-year-old James Jones of Grand Prairie and the victim as 37-year-old Cesar Perez of Duncanville. The man who killed Jones has not been identified.
Authorities later found two loaded guns and two knives on Jones, Cook said Thursday.
“We do believe he had the capacity to do much greater harm,” Cook said.
“After he was struck once, the suspect started shooting at the front door,” Cook told the Arlington Voice. “We know people were trying to escape, but we’re not sure if he was just trying to harm others.”
More than a dozen customers and a handful of employees were in the sports bar at the time of the shooting.
Cook said the customer, who was dining with his wife, “prevented further loss of life.” . . .
Another story in the Arlington Voice mentioned this:
“Had the Good Samaritan not intervened, there could have further loss of life,” Cook said.
Jones did not have a license to carry. . . .
From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“because he engaged the shooter there was no further loss of life.”
Other stories are available here and here.Townville Elementary School, September 28, 2016 (FBI report on active shooter incidents for 2016-17)From the FBI report on page 5.
On September 28, 2016, at 1:45 p.m., Jesse Dewitt Osborne, 14, armed with a handgun, allegedly began shooting at the Townville Elementary School playground in Townville, South Carolina. Prior to theshooting, the shooter, a former student, killed his father at their home. Two people were killed, includingone student; three were wounded, one teacher and two students. A volunteer firefighter, who possessed a valid firearms permit, restrained the shooter until law enforcement officers arrived and apprehended him.
Lyman, South Carolina, June 30, 2016 (Fox Carolina)Just a couple of weeks after the Orlando massacre, man, 32-year-old Jody Ray Thompson, started shooting at others at another nightclub. Fortunately, unlike Florida, permitted concealed handguns were allowed in bars in South Carolina. Before he could shoot a fourth person, the permit holder was able to shoot back, wounding Thompson in the leg.
“His rounds struck 3 victims, and almost struck a fourth victim, who in self-defense, pulled his own weapon and fired, striking Thompson in the leg,” Lt. Kevin Bobo said.
Bobo said the man who shot Thompson has a valid concealed weapons permit, cooperated with investigators, and won’t be facing any charges. . . . .
Also this
and at least one South Carolina sheriff [is] crediting a man with a concealed carry permit with preventing further violence at a nightclub . . .
Winton, Ohio, Sunday, July 26, 2015, Fox 19 in Cincinnati and Fox NewsThe shooter in this case directly fired at four different people. Fortunately, because of the permit holder’s quick actions, no one was seriously injured.
[Thomas] McCary [62-years-old] was arguing with a woman around 8 p.m. Sunday night and, when the woman’s brother, Patrick Ewing, approached, McCary pulled out a .38-caliber handgun and fired three shots at him, Cincinnati police said.
Ewing didn’t get hit, but he did get his own gun and returned fire, wounding McCary in the leg. Ewing had a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Injured, McCary went into his house to get a second gun and, holding a weapon in each hand, he fired three shots in the direction of the woman, Jeaneta Walker, her 1-year-old son and a third man.
Ewing fired at McCary again to try to distract him as the victims fled indoors. McCary squeezed off a few more rounds, hitting no one, before withdrawing into his apartment, Cincinnati.com reported. . . .
Conyers, Georgia, Sunday, May 31, 2015, The Rockdale CitizenOften it is claimed that citizens who stop mass public shootings don’t get news coverage because they stop anyone from being killed. But in this case two people were killed before the permit holder was able to stop the attack.
A customer who fired back at the suspect who killed two people in a Ga. Highway 20 liquor store Sunday afternoon is being hailed as a hero.
Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett said at a press conference Monday that Todd C. Scott, 44, a resident of Covington, very likely prevented other customers in the store from losing their lives.
Levett said store video from Magnet Bottle Shop showed that the suspect, Jeffrey Scott Pitts, 36, came in the store Sunday afternoon firing a handgun.
“I believe that if Mr. Scott did not return fire at the suspect then more of those customers would have hit by a gun,” said [Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett]. “It didn’t appear that he cared who he shot or where he was shooting until someone was shooting back at him. So in my opinion he saved other lives in that store.”
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Pitts fled after another patron, Todd C. Scott, of Covington, opened fire with his own hand gun. It is still unclear whether Aikens died before or after Scott returned fire with Pitts, but the sheriff credited Scott with saving lives.
“I consider him to be a hero,” [Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett] said.
New Holland, Wisconsin, May 5th, 2015, Fox Carolina (cases such as this where the people who stopped the attack didn’t fire a gun don’t tend to get that much news attention):
FOX Carolina 21: “CWPs likely stopped deaths of children, firefighters”
Firefighters said they may have stopped a massacre after a gunman surprised them at their station Tuesday.The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the New Holland Fire Department’s Station 2 around 6:30 p.m. for a report of shots fired.
Firefighters said Chad Barker pulled up to the crowded fire station parking lot full of children and firefighters, got out of his car, and began firing in the air and at his vehicle. They say he also pointed the firearm at individual firefighters for lengthy periods of time.
“I came out of the office, saw the man with the gun, told everybody to leave out the back quickly that there was a man in the parking lot with a gun, and I was not kidding,” said Gary Knoll, a firefighter for New Holland.
Knoll said he and another firefighter who have concealed weapons permits pulled their guns on the gunman.
Knoll said Barker returned to his vehicle and firefighters carefully followed him with their weapons still drawn. After encouraging Barker to put the gun down, Knoll said Barker ultimately complied and Knoll grabbed the gun. . . .
Chicago, Illinois, April 19, 2015, Chicago Sun-TimesAn Uber driver with a permitted concealed handgun stopped what likely would have been a mass public shooting. Police arrived on the scene quickly, but the Uber driver had still already taken care of the situation before they arrived. From Mitch Dudek in the Chicago Sun-Times (April 19, 2015):
An Uber driver put his concealed carry permit to use Friday night when he pulled a gun and opened fire on a man he saw firing a pistol into a group of people on a Logan Square sidewalk, according to prosecutors.
Six blasts from his gun injured a 22-year-old man identified as Everardo Custodio.
Custodio suffered wounds to his shin, knee and lower back . . . Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas refused to grant [Custodio] bail on charges of aggravated battery with a firearm and illegal possession of a firearm.
The 47-year-old Uber driver “was acting in self-defense and in the defense of others,” Assistant State’s Attorney Barry Quinn said. . . .
The Uber driver had dropped off a passenger minutes before the shooting occurred, said Uber spokeswoman Jen Mullin. She had no comment on the driver’s actions other than to say the company requires all its drivers to abide by local, state and federal laws pertaining to transporting firearms in vehicles. . . .
Police patrolling the area heard the shots and arrived to find Custodio on the ground and bleeding. Police also recovered a handgun found near Custodio, Quinn said. . . .
[The Uber driver is] a registered gun owner who has a concealed carry license. He doesn’t face any charges. . . .
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 22, 2015, NBC Channel 10:
A 40-year-old man was inside Falah Barber Shop Inc. on the 600 block of Preston Street shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday when police say he began fighting with another person inside. . . .
The fight quickly escalated and the 40-year-old man took out his gun and opened fire on customers and barbers, police said. , , ,
As he was shooting, another man outside heard the gunfire, ran into the shop and took out his own gun, according to investigators. He then opened fire, striking the 40-year-old man once in the chest. . . .
“The person who responded was a legal gun permit carrier,” said Philadelphia Police Captain Frank Llewellyn. “He responded and I guess he saved a lot of people in there.“
Darby, Pennsylvania, July 25, 2014John Lott in the Philadelphia Inquirer (Other details on the case are available here).
The attacker, Richard Plotts, is a convicted felon, which bans him from legally owning a gun. . . .
At Mercy Fitzgerald, caseworker Theresa Hunt was killed when Plotts opened fire during a regularly scheduled appointment with Dr. Lee Silverman. Fortunately, the doctor had his own gun and returned fire, hitting Plotts three times and critically wounding him.
After firing all the bullets in his gun, Plotts still had 39 bullets on him, bullets that he could have used to shoot many other people . . .
According to the Associated Press:
“Without a doubt, I believe the doctor saved lives,” said Yeadon police chief Donald Molineux, according to the Associated Press.
“Without that firearm, [the shooter] could have went out in the hallway and just walked down the offices until he ran out of ammunition,” Molineux said. . . .
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/24/doctor-saved-lives-by-shooting-hospital-gunman/#ixzz4YM9btwcG
Chicago, Illinois, July 7, 2014, from Geoff Ziezulewicz in the Chicago Tribune:
A Gresham man fired on a group of people leaving a party, only to be shot himself by one of the victims, a military service member with a concealed carry permit, authorities said.
The military member and three others were leaving a party Friday night . . .
One of the victims had noticed a cup of liquor on top of her vehicle and asked attendees of a party next door who it belonged to, Hain said.
When she removed it, Denzel A. Mickiel approached her, shouting obscenities and threatening her and her friends, according to Hain and court records. . . .
As Mickiel fired at the victims’ vehicle, the military member retrieved his gun and took cover near the vehicle’s front fender, according to Hain. Two unidentified people also shot at the group, she said.
The military service member fired two shots and struck Mickiel twice, she said.
A 22-year-old woman in the group was injured by Mickiel in the shooting, suffering wounds to the arm and back, according to court records and Hain.
The four victims escaped the melee in two vehicles as two unidentified people continued to shoot at them, Hain said. . . .
Portland, Oregon, January 11, 2014, OregonianThomas Eliot Hjelmeland, 43-years-old, was ejected from a nightclub, but he returned 30 minutes later with a gun and wearing a mask. He shot the bouncer who had ejected him and shot at others. The bouncer was shot in the head and critically wounded. Two others were also wounded: one patron in the foot and a waitress, who had been standing at the front of the club, in both of her legs. Hjelmeland was on probation at the time of the incident. Given that Hjelmeland was shooting people all around the club, Bouncer Jonathan Baer, a concealed handgun permit holder who fatally shot Hjelmeland, appears to have had good reason to fear that other people at the front of the club would also have been shot by Hjelmeland.
Here is a February 1, 2014, article in the Oregonian.
Baer, 31, followed the masked gunman out of the club’s interior doors to the entrance foyer and drew his own Glock .40-caliber pistol from his hip. He looked back one or two times to check on Rizzo, who hadn’t gotten up.
While using one foot to prop open the club’s inner door, Baer said he saw the masked man reach the front door. The man stopped and looked as if he were going to turn around. Baer said he leaned forward and fired two to three rounds.
Baer, who has a concealed handgun license, . . .
Baer later explained to detectives that he had thought about two dancers and two customers who were standing outside the club smoking. He said he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. . . .
And this January 21, 2014, article in the Oregonian.
Club co-owner Connie Barnes said she did not know Baer was armed that night, but she called him a hero.
In a Facebook post, Baer wrote, “I did what I felt was right to stop the shooter…I carry every day, and will continue to, and will so with the hope that I will NEVER have to pull it out again.” . . .
Plymouth, Pennsylvania, September 2012The article by Bob Kalinowski Citizensvoice.com states:
. . . It’s the gun prosecutors said Ktytor used to put an end to a 26-year-old man’s shooting rampage on Sept. 9, 2012 in Plymouth.
Ever since Ktytor, who has a concealed carry license, dropped the killer with several shots on Main Street in Plymouth, . . .
In October, the murder suspect, William Allabaugh of Plymouth, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and attempted murder, then was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison.
Authorities say Allabaugh critically wounded Stephen Hollman, 30, by shooting him in the head inside Bonnie’s Food and Spirits on Main Street. A short time later, Allabaugh fatally shot Scott Luzetsky, 39, outside the bar. Police said both victims were innocent bystanders who didn’t provoke the attack by Allabaugh, who was angered he was being kicked out of the bar.
More importantly, see this (emphasis added):
“The video footage and the evidence reveals that Mr. Allabaugh had turned around and was reapproaching the bar. Mr. [Ktytor] then acted, taking him down. We believe that it could have been much worse that night,” Luzerne County A.D.A. Jarrett Ferentino said.
Early, Texas, August 2012, KTXS ABC Channel 12:
An armed citizen, Vic Stacy, shot and stopped a deranged man who had just murdered two neighbors and was firing at police with a rifle. Stacy made a very long shot with his revolver, three times as far as the perpetrator was from the police officer, who had an AR-15 type rifle.
Santa Clara, California, July 26, 2012, Reuters:
. . . 21-year-old Richard Gable Stevens, was subdued after tense moments Monday evening at a shooting range and gun store in this town 30 miles (48 km) south of San Francisco.
“He intended to go out in a blaze of glory,” Morec said, noting Stevens had accumulated more than 100 rounds of ammunition for his rented 9mm semi-automatic weapon.
“It certainly looks like he intended to take a lot more people out.”. . . .
After several minutes on the range, however, Stevens returned to the club’s gun store and shot at the ceiling. He then herded three store employees out the door into an alley, saying he intended to kill them, Morec said.
Unknown to Stevens, one store employee was carrying a .45 caliber handgun concealed beneath his shirt. When Stevens looked away, the employee fired, hitting Stevens several times in the chest and bringing him to the ground. . . . .
Salt Lake, April 27, 2012, ABC Channel 4he Original story is no longer available, but this is its content:
A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith’s store. Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith’s employee Dorothy Espinoza says, “He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people.” Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. “There is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms.” Then, before the suspect could find another victim – a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. “A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith’s grabbed him.” . . .
Another media report is available here: Lt. Brian Purvis noted “This was a very volatile situation that could have gotten even worse. We can only assume, judging from what we saw, that it could have gotten a lot worse so he [the permit holder] was definitely in the right place at the right time.” A brief description is available here.
Aurora, Colorado, April 2012, Fox 31 Denver by Tammy Vigil:
Kiarron Parker rammed his car into another in the church parking lot, got out and attempted to kill multiple church members. He was only able to kill one before a member of the congregation, the nephew of the lady killed, and an off duty police officer, drew his handgun and shot Parker, stopping the killing.
Spartanburg, South Carolina, March 2012, article by Jenny Arnold at GoUpState.com (see also here):
. . . About 11:20 a.m., Jesse Gates returned to the church. The Rev. Guyton’s grandson, Aaron Guyton, 26, was in the recreation building separate from the church and saw Gates get a shotgun from the trunk of his car.
“At that point, I knew I had to do something,” Aaron Guyton said. “I wanted to try to contain him outside.”
Aaron Guyton went into the main building and locked the doors.
Henry Guyton said he was in the pulpit, preaching about how Jesus spoke the word of God and healed the sick, when Gates kicked open the side door of the sanctuary and entered with the shotgun, pointing it at the pastor and congregation.
Church members, including Aaron Guyton, a concealed weapons permit holder, acted quickly.
Aaron Guyton held Gates at gunpoint, as church members Jesse Smith and Leland Powers held him on the floor and waited for deputies to arrive. The Rev. Guyton said he stepped onto a chair, climbed down a 3-foot bannister surrounding the pulpit and took the shotgun from Jesse Gates. . . .
No shots were fired and no one was injured, according to deputies.
During a news conference Sunday, Wright called Aaron and Henry Guyton, Jesse Smith and Leland Powers “everyday heroes.” . . .
Oklahoma City, December 2009, KWTV NEWS Channel 9:
. . . Police said the man started firing multiple shots in the parking lot of the Tammaron Village apartments around 4 p.m. Thursday.
Witnesses said the man initially went into the apartment complex’s main office. When employees locked him out, he opened fire in the parking lot.
As the man was firing shots, another citizen armed with a gun came around the corner and ordered the gunman to put his weapon down. The gunman dropped his weapon and ran into his father’s apartment and barricaded himself inside. . . .
Richmond, Virginia, July 2009 (this first description is based on a video of the shooting and a talk on the attack is here):
The gun owner was in the store [the Golden Market] waiting in line to pay for an item when the bad guy came in wearing dark sunglasses and trying to coverup his face while brandishing a revolver. The [bad guy] yelled for everyone to get down and before anybody could react, immediately walked over to the store owner and in a cold-blooded fashion shot him twice. The owner then dropped down behind the counter. . . .
The [bad guy] ran towards the back of the store, aiming his gun at an innocent man laying prone on the floor. Luckily the [bad guy] was too distracted by the [gun owner] to shoot the man. There is no doubt in my mind that the man would have been shot in cold blood that day if it weren’t for that [gun owner] returning fire. . . .
As he approached the front of one aisle, he again pointed a gun at a person on the ground and was about to execute him, when he was again distracted by the [gun owner]. . . .
College Park (near Atlanta), Georgia, May 7, 2009, WSB-TV 2
“Apparently, his intent was to rape and murder us all,” said student Charles Bailey.
Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.
“They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, ‘Give me your wallets and cell phones,’” said George Williams of the College Park Police Department.
Bailey said the gunmen started counting bullets. “The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough,” said Bailey.
That’s when one student grabbed a gun out of a backpack and shot at the invader who was watching the men. The gunman ran out of the apartment. . . .
More information is available from WFXI in Atlanta:
The resident of the apartment, Charles Bailey, told police that he thought it was the end of his life. He and ten other people were in his apartment celebrating at a birthday party when two masked gunmen burst through the patio door. . . .
Bailey further informed authorities that the suspects counted their bullets. Apparently Hill was guarding the men when one of the victims retrieved a gun from a backpack and turned the tables on the situation. Hill reportedly fled the scene.The victim with the gun then proceeded to the next room where Lavant had watch over the females at the party.The guy was apparently was about to rape one of the females, said Bailey. . . .
Bailey said if not for the quick thinking of that party goer, it is likely that all the victims would have been killed. I am thankful that one student risked his life for others. . . .
Winnemucca, Nevada, May 25, 2008, KOLO ABC Channel 8 (Reno):
. . . Winnemucca Police Chief Bob Davidson says the violence erupted around 2:30 A.M. Sunday when a man entered the crowded Players Bar and Grill. He fatally shot two brothers, 20-year-old Jose Torres and his 19-year-old brother, Margarito. The shooter was later identified as 30 year old Ernesto Villagomez. All three were from Winnemucca.
According to witnesses, Villagomez at some point stopped to reload his high-capacity handgun and began shooting again when he was shot and killed by another patron – a 48-year-old Reno man who had a valid concealed weapons permit. . . .
Colorado Springs, Colorado, December 2007, by Solomon Banda with the Associated Press:
After a year of accolades that followed her shooting of a gunman who killed two teenage sisters at her church, security guard Jeanne Assam remains “low key” and says she thinks of the family of gunman Matthew Murray. . . .
Assam shot and wounded Murray after he opened fire at New Life Church on Dec. 9, 2007. Murray then killed himself, ending a spree that killed four people in two cities.
Assam said volunteering as an armed security guard at the church remains the highlight of her week. . . .
Murray began his shooting spree at the Youth With a Mission center in the Denver suburb of Arvada just after midnight Dec. 9. There, he killed Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24.
Hours later, he drove 65 miles south to New Life Church in Colorado Springs and began shooting as worshippers left a Sunday service. Sisters Rachel Works, 16, and Stephanie Works, 18, were killed. . . . .
Wearing a trench coat and carrying an assault rifle [sic], Murray opened fire in the church complex’s parking lot and headed into the church. He walked past a playground, which church spokeswoman Amie Streater said was empty that day because it had been snowing, and entered a hallway that led toward the sanctuary past a children’s worship area.
Outgunned and stationed near the children, Assam stepped out from a doorway, confronted the gunman and then fired 10 shots from 63 feet away, hitting Murray once in the wrist and twice in a leg. Murray died in the hallway barely 40 feet from where he entered. . . . .
Memphis, Tennessee, March 2007, WBIR TV NBC in Knoxville, TN:
Police in Memphis say a gunman firing a pistol beside a busy city street was subdued by two passers-by who were also armed.
No one was hurt during the incident that apparently began with a minor traffic accident, but one passing car was believed hit by a bullet.
Brothers William Webber and Paul Webber told police they stopped their car and pulled their own pistols when they saw a man firing a handgun yesterday.
The brothers said they ordered the man to drop his weapon and then held him at gunpoint until police arrived a few minutes later. Police say the Webbers did not fire their pistols.
Police arrested Dementrius Roberson and charged him with reckless endangerment. Police say the Webber brothers and Roberson have licenses to carry firearms.
Paul Webber says Roberson was firing across traffic and they couldn’t tell why he was shooting. . . .
Memphis, Tennessee, July 21, 2006.Here is another knife attack that was stopped before the police were able to arrive. From Fox News:
A knife-wielding grocery store employee attacked eight co-workers Friday, seriously injuring five before a witness pulled a gun and stopped him, police said. . . .
The attack apparently stemmed from a work dispute, police said.
Five victims, one in critical condition, were admitted to the Regional Medical Center, the main trauma hospital for the Memphis area. Three others were less badly hurt and treated at another hospital.
The attacker, chasing one victim into the store’s parking lot, was subdued by Chris Cope, manager of a financial services office in the same small shopping center, Higgins said.
Cope said he grabbed a 9mm semiautomatic pistol from his pickup truck when he saw the attacker chasing the victim “like something in a serial killer movie.”
“When he turned around and saw my pistol, he threw the knife away, put his hands up and got on the ground,” Cope told The Associated Press. “He saw my gun and that was pretty much it.”
Police arrived within minutes . . . .
Tyler, Texas, February 2005, Fox News (see also here):
. . . Wilson, a licensed concealed handgun permit holder, heard Arroyo’s shots and saw the commotion from his apartment window. He grabbed a handgun and headed toward the attacker. Arroyo had already wounded several police officers and there was no one left to prevent his rampage.
Arroyo had also shot his 22-year-old son and was about ready to shoot him again from very close range when Wilson fired his gun, hitting Arroyo several times in the chest. Arroyo was wearing a bullet resistant vest and flak jacket and Wilson’s shots did not seriously wound him. Yet, Wilson’s shots forced Arroyo to come after him, and it used up a couple of minutes of his time. Unfortunately, in the exchange of gunfire, Arroyo eventually fatally shot Wilson. With police arriving, Arroyo fled the scene and was later shot to death by police as they pursued him. . . .
Grundy, Virginia, Jan. 16, 2002Josh White in the Washington Post recounts the testimony of Mikael Gross, one of the two students who had:
. . . Odighizuwa accepted responsibility for the shootings that began after school officials told him that he was failing out of the program. On Jan. 16, 2002, he took a .380-caliber pistol to the offices of Dean L. Anthony Sutin and Prof. Thomas Blackwell and killed them before opening fire on a crowd, killing student Angela Dales, 33, and wounding three others. Odighizuwa was subdued without incident by armed students. . . .
— More details of the attack are available here, including interviews that Lott conducted with the two students who stopped the attack as well as various reporters who covered the case.
Edinboro, Pennsylvania, April 1998, from Robert Moran and Susan Q. Stranahan in the Philadelphia Inquirer
. . . Yesterday, Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged with fatally shooting John Gillette, 48, a science teacher at James Parker Middle School, as Gillette was chaperoning a prom for Wurst and his eighth-grade class at Nick’s Place.
After Wurst shot Gillette in the head, police said, the teenager entered the banquet hall where his dressed-up schoolmates were dancing Friday to the final song of the evening, “My Heart Will Go On,” from the movie Titanic.
Wurst shot and wounded two students and another teacher, police said, then fled from the hall. None of the three was seriously injured.
As the 240 youngsters and teachers ran for cover – some diving into a closet for protection, singing and praying to stay calm – hall owner James Strand grabbed a shotgun and followed Wurst out the door, police said. Strand caught up with Wurst, who lives in nearby McKean, and held him until authorities arrived. . . .
Pearl, Mississippi, October 1997In the Pearl, Mississippi, case, Myrick stopped the killer from proceeding to the nearby junior high school and continuing his attack there.
Student eyewitnesses and shooting victims of the Pearl High School (Mississippi) rampage used phrases like “unreal” and “like a horror movie” as they testified Wednesday about seeing Luke Woodham methodically point his deer rifle at them and pull the trigger at least six times. . . . The day’s most vivid testimony came from a gutsy hero of the day. As- sistant principal Joel Myrick heard the initial shot and watched Woodham choosing his victims. When Woodham appeared headed for a science wing where early classes were al- ready under way, Myrick ran for his pickup and grabbed his .45-caliber pistol. He rounded the school building in time to see Woodham leaving the school and getting into his moth- er’s white Chevy Corsica. He watched its back tires smoke from Woodham’s failure to remove the parking brake. Then he ordered him to stop. “I had my pistol’s sights on him. I could see the whites of his knuckles” on the steering wheel, Myrick said. He reached into the car and opened the driver-side door, then ordered Woodham to lie on the ground. “I put my foot on his back area and pointed my pistol at him,” Myrick testified. [Bartholomew Sullivan, “Students Recall ‘Unreal’ Rampage,” Commercial Appeal, June 11, 1998, p. A1 as quoted in the 1st edition of “More Guns, Less Crime”]
Muskegon, Michigan, August 1995, The Chronicle:
Plans to slay everyone in the Muskegon, Michigan, store and steal enough cash and jewelry to feed their “gnawing hunger for crack cocaine” fell apart for a band of would-be killers after one of their victims fought back. Store owner Clare Cooper was returning behind the counter after showing three of the four conspirators some jewelry, when one of the group pulled out a gun and shot him four times in the back. Stumbling for the safety of his bullet-proof glass-encased counter, Cooper managed to grab his shotgun and fire as the suspects fled. . . .
Anniston, Alabama, December 1991, J. Neil Schulman in the Los Angeles Times:
. . . two men armed with recently stolen pistols herded 20 customers and employees of a Shoney’s restaurant in Anniston, Ala., into the walk-in refrigerator and locked it. Continuing to hold the manager at gunpoint, the men began robbing the restaurant.
Then one of the robbers found a customer who had hidden under a table and pulled a gun on him. The customer, Thomas Glenn Terry, legally armed with a .45 semi-automatic pistol, then fired five shots into that robber’s chest and abdomen, killing him instantly.
The other robber, who was holding the manager at gunpoint, opened fire on Terry and grazed him. Terry returned fire, hitting the second robber several times and wounding him critically.
The robbery attempt was over. The Shoney’s customers and employees were freed. No one else was hurt. . . .
The preceding list is not meant to be anything near comprehensive. One can see how hard it is to identify these cases when there is often just one or two stories on a case.
Cases where attacks were stopped with other types of gunsFort Smith, Arkansas, May 15, 2021
Zachary Arnold, 26, fatally shot Lois Hicks, 87, in her apartment and then began shooting at other people in neighboring apartments. This case involved someone with a rifle, not a concealed handgun, to stop the attack.
Hicks was shot multiple times inside of her apartment by Arnold who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle. Arnold continued to shoot his rifle at neighboring apartments. A resident at the apartments heard the gunshots and got a hunting rifle which he used to shoot and kill Arnold. . . . .
Nayely Palafox, “Fort Smith Police investigate shooting that left two people dead,” Channel 5 News (Springdale, AR), May 15, 2021.
Possible casesCicero, Illinois, September 15, 2018The Chicago Tribune points out that the police considered a concealed handgun permit holder a hero. They did not initially know if the permit holder was the one who had shot the criminal, but that at the very least his shots helped stop the attack and made it possible for the other officer to shoot the criminal. The police and others referred to the permit holder as a “hero.”
Police said the concealed gun holder was stuck in traffic when he witnessed the police activity, decided to intervene, and got out his car and fired at the man. . . .
[David] Lombardo added, “speaking as a former part-time deputy and an ex-military guy, the (citizen) was an angel. He knew what he was doing, he got involved when he didn’t have to and he saved the cop’s life. The bad guy could have hit somebody else too. So who knows how many lives (the citizen) saved?”
Cicero police and town leaders credited the citizen, whose name they did not release, with helping to end the wild shootout during the Thursday evening rush hour.
“We were lucky enough to have a citizen on the street there who is a conceal carry holder, and he engaged in gunfire with the suspect,” Cicero police Superintendent Jerry Chlada Jr. said . . . .
It later turned out that the permit holder wasn’t the one who had wounded the criminal. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
The officers attempted to pull the vehicle over, but it drove off and got stuck in traffic near the expressway ramp, Assistant State’s Attorney Guy Lisuzzo said. When the officers blocked the Mercedes in, Mageo, armed with a black handgun, allegedly opened fire.
Duarte was shot at least six times — in the leg, hip and shoulder, Lisuzzo said. A bullet also struck the officer’s Taser. Duarte has since been released from the hospital, but was still walking with the aid of a walker, authorities said.
A witness with a permit to carry a concealed gun saw the shooting and fired three times at Mageo as he ran, Lisuzzo said. None of those bullets struck Mageo. . . .
Rock Hill, South Carolina, December 21, 2017 (The State newspaper (Columbia, South Carolina), WYFF Channel 4 TV)
The attacker wielding a large wrench threatened to kill several people. The attacker had cornered one of the employees, and he would have likely killed her. Fortunately, two concealed handgun permit holders stopped the attack. This case is only included as possible because it isn’t clear that the attacker would have been able to kill more than the one female employee. From The State newspaper:
A pair of customers legally carrying guns held a pipe-wielding attacker at bay at a York County car dealership until police arrived in a December incident where the suspect threatened to kill dealership employees, prosecutors said in court Friday.
Alonzo Seegars, upset with service at Stateline car dealership on Gold Hill Road in Fort Mill on Dec. 21, arrived armed with a pipe wrench, said Aaron Hayes, 16th Circuit assistant solicitor. Seegars told a service employee, “I know who you are and you are a dead man,” then “threatened to kill” a female employee, Hayes said.
Seegars then shouted out “Watch this!” as he smashed at least three vehicles with the pipe wrench, Hayes said.
Two customers, whom prosecutors said had legal concealed carry permits and were armed legally at the time, intervened and “held Mr. Seegars at bay” with the handguns at the crowded dealership until police arrived, Hayes said. York County deputies tackled Seegars after using an electric stun gun. Seegars suffered a broken leg in the scuffle. . . .
North Naples, Florida, July 11, 2018It looks as if the permit holder stopped what otherwise would have been a drive-by shooting. WINK television news -had this headline “Good Samaritan with a gun stops possible shooter outside restaurant.”
If it wasn’t for Good Samaritan, named Tom, standing by, an evening out could have turned into someone’s worse nightmare.
“You wonder, is this ever going to happen to me, and it did,” Tom said.
According to witnesses, what Tom did may have prevented a tragedy.
“I pulled into Jack’s, just walked in to grab a beer. Walked outside to sit down, and there was a table of ladies to the right of me,” Tom said. “Almost immediately, this black Lincoln pulled up with all dark windows and he did a hell of a burnout.” . . .
Tom says a man, who deputies later identified and arrested as Keith Zavattaro, 55, of Naples, drove back to the front of the building, stopped and then slowly rolled down his window to then point what looked like a gun.
“So I got behind the cement pillar and showed my pistol, and he took off out of there really quick,” Tom said.
According to the arrest report, other people outside also saw the gun.
Houston, Texas, Sunday, May 29, 2016, The UK Daily Mail
Dionisio Garza III from San Bernardino County, California, has been named as the man behind the gun attack that left two people dead and six wounded.
He served four tours of duty in Afghanistan and was discharged from active duty in 2014, and doesn’t appear to have a criminal history. . . .
He killed 56-year-old Eugene Linscomb and critically injured father Byron Wilson, who police say was trying to fight back and stop the deadly attack.
Authorities said Wilson had a concealed carry permit and fired at the suspect. He was shot three times in the process.
He is expected to survive. . . .
more on this case is here on KHOU-TV:
All the while, feeling grateful that her friend still has his life and his actions may have kept others from losing theirs.
“He could have prevented more people from being shot,” Guerra said. “He’s a hero, even though he was shot. He’s a hurting hero.” . . .
Las Vegas, Nevada, June 8, 2014A Concealed Carry Permit Holder may have limited the carnage in North Las Vegas shooting that left three people dead. While the permit holder lost his life, it appears as if he was able to delay the killers’ attack on others and give people a chance to escape.
Portland, Oregon, December 2012 KGW Staff:
Meli is emotionally drained. The 22-year-old was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire.
“I heard three shots and turned and looked at Casey and said, ‘are you serious?,'” he said.
The friend and baby hit the floor. Meli, who has a concealed carry permit, positioned himself behind a pillar.
He was working on his rifle, said Meli. He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side.
The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.
“As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them,” he said.. . .
I’m not beating myself up cause I didn’t shoot him, said Meli. I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself. . . .
Eugene Volokh has a discussion available here about why he doesn’t include this on his list of four cases that he has.
Manchester, New Hampshire, April 15, 2007The links to the original New Hampshire Union Leader are broken, but I have links to a blog that quotes the articles.
Bullets flew outside the Uptown Tavern early yesterday when a peeved patron began shooting at a doorman after being thrown out of the club. The shooter himself was shot twice by an armed customer who rushed to the bouncer’s defense, a club owner and police said.
The shooter had missed doorman Chad Ryan after firing about four shots at him in the 1301 Elm St. club’s parking lot when the alleged gunman was himself hit twice by the unidentified patron who returned fire about 12:45 a.m., said club co-owner Dave Somers.
Tacoma Mall in Tacoma, Washington, November 20, 2005.While this case ended with the permit holder not stopping the shooter, the exchange of gun-fire with the shooter delayed him and thus gave others a chance to escape and police more time to arrive.
Other CasesHoover, Alabama (Galleria Mall), November 23, 2018Emantic Bradford Jr apparently tried to use his gun to stop what might have been a gang shooting at a mall. Unfortunately, Bradford was shot by a police officer. The Alabama Attorney General cleared the police officer in the shooting of any crime, saying that he acted reasonably because of the chaos. One factor that helped cause problems was that the mall banned concealed handgun permit holders. This is the only case that we know of where a permit holder was shot by police when he was trying to stop a shooting, though he apparently wasn’t doing it in a place where he was legally able to do it. It also isn’t clear if Bradford was himself involved in stopping the shooting of civilians.
Off-duty police have also had some dramatic cases
Lenexa, Kansas, November 26, 2017
As the chaotic scene unfolded and the gunman methodically walked through the aisles of the Lenexa Costco on Nov. 26, . . .
When the gunman, later identified as Ronald O. Hunt, announced, “I’m an off-duty U.S. Marshal, I’m here to kill people,” Howell realized that he had only one option.
“I knew that there was a threat that had to be stopped,” Howell said Friday as he recalled the incident. . . .
In announcing that the retired U.S. Army veteran would not face criminal charges, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said Howell “acted with extreme courage, and saved an unknown amount of innocent lives.” . . .
“You never know what situation you are going to find yourself in whether it is a restaurant or a shopping mall, or just driving down the road,” he said. “I think it would be ludicrous not to be prepared.” . . .
Plymouth County, Massachusetts, May 11, 2016
A stabbing rampage that left two victims dead and several others injured ended when an off-duty police officer fatally shot the suspect.
Plymouth County Sheriff’s Deputy Jimmy Creed was off-duty “with his bride, just having dinner,” when the chaos unfolded, police sources told ABC News.
They were dining at Bertucci’s Italian restaurant in the Galleria Mall in Taunton, about 40 miles south of Boston.
Suspect Arthur DaRosa had walked into the restaurant and “armed himself with a knife and stabbed two people,” District Attorney Thomas Quinn said in a statement released early this morning.
Quinn said today that DaRosa’s sister told police he had checked himself into a local hospital Monday night and was released Tuesday morning, hours before the attacks. . . .
St. Cloud, Minnesota, September 17, 2016
A terrorist mass stabbing occurred at the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Ten people were injured, and the attacker was shot dead inside the mall by an off-duty law enforcement officer. The FBI began investigating the stabbing as a possible act of terrorism.
The Washington Post Reports: “the attacker lunged at Jason Falconer, a part-time police officer in Avon, Minn., 15 miles northwest of St. Cloud. Falconer then fired shots at the stabber, who fell but got up three times before he died.“
Fox 9 in AVON, Minn
Off-duty police officer Jason Falconer was the right person, in the right place, at the right time. The part-time cop with the Avon, Minnesota Police Department is the owner of a gun range in Waite Park called Tactical Advantage, and he’s a competitive shooter, according to his police chief. In fact, he’s the firearms instructor for the city of Avon.
“I believe there was divine intervention,” Chief Corey Nellis said. “I believe he was the person that needed to be there to prevent it from being worse than it was.” . . .
San Antonio, Texas, December 2012, WOAI (possibly shouldn’t be included in the list of off-duty police officer as the person was moonlighting as a security guard):
“It started at the restaurant and then went into the parking lot and then into the movie theater,” Deputy Lou Antu told 1200 WOAI news.
Investigators say some of the terrified restaurant patrons poured into the movie theater, and the gunman followed.
He opened fire, shooting one man in the chest, before Antu says an off duty sheriff’s deputy who was working security at the theater shot him once.
“The officer involved, she took the appropriate action to try to keep everyone safe in the movie theater,” Antu said.
The gunman and the patron are hospitalized.
Antu says the gunman never made it into the theater itself, thanks largely to the heroic work of the off duty deputy.
“She did what she felt she had to do,” Antu said. “I feel that she saved a lot of lives by taking the action she had to take.” . . .
Aurora, Colorado, April 24, 2012, Fox Channel 31, Denver
. . . Aurora Police say Kiarron Parker, 29, of Denver, shot and killed Josephine Echols, 67, just before 3 p.m. outside the Destiny Christian Center in the 10600 block of E. Bethany Dr. That’s not too far from Parker Rd. and Havana St.
Parker had a lengthy criminal record.
An off-duty Denver police officer shot and killed Parker. . . .
That gave him enough time to hide behind a car.
Then, the bullets started raining, and hit Mama Jo.
That’s when an off-duty Denver policeman—also Mama Jo’s nephew—shot the suspect dead.
“Thank God for him because if it wasn’t for him there’s no telling what would have happened,” says Martin. . . .
New York Mills, New York, May 2010, WKTV:
. . . Shortly before 1 p.m. on that Thursday afternoon, Dicken walked into the cellular phone store on Commercial Drive, with a 357 magnum in his hand, and a list in his pocket containing the six names of the AT&T store employees to which he was holding such deep anger, and planned to kill as a result.
“The suspect had no prior history,” said Lt. Troy Little of the New York State Police.
That man with no prior criminal record walked into the store and shot Seth Tyrk, a store employee who was doing no more than working at a computer at his job. Authorities believe Dicken could have been even more successful with his list of six victims, if not for the instantaneous actions of Rome Police Officer Donald J. Moore, who was off-duty, but in the store as a customer at the time of the shooting.
“He heard and sees the gun, draws his weapon, and fired,” Lt. Little said of Officer Moore’s reaction.
Officer Moore was carrying his own 40 caliber handgun.
“It’s his own personal choice,” said Moore’s boss, Rome Police Chief Kevin Beach. “We do encourage our officers to carry off-duty.” . . .
Salt Lake City, Utah, February 2007, CBS News (note this off-duty officer carried his gun where he was not allowed to do so (more details here)):
An off-duty police officer having an early Valentine’s Day dinner with his wife was credited Tuesday with helping stop a rampage in a crowded shopping mall by an 18-year-old gunman who killed five people before he was cut down.
A day after the shooting, investigators struggled to figure out why a trench-coated Sulejmen Talovic opened fire on shoppers with a supremely calm look on his face.
The teenager wanted to “to kill a large number of people” and probably would have killed many more if not for the off-duty officer, Police Chief Chris Burbank said.Ken Hammond, an off-duty officer from Ogden, north of Salt Lake City, jumped up from his seat at a restaurant after hearing gunfire and cornered the gunman, exchanging fire with him until other officers arrived, Burbank said.
“There is no question that his quick actions saved the lives of numerous other people,” the police chief said. . . .
Santee, California. In 2001, a student (Charles “Andy” Williams) shot and killed two of his classmates and wounded 13 others before being subdued and held at gunpoint by an off-duty police officer who was bringing his daughter to school.
Dr. John Lott talked to Michael Dukes, whose radio show covers much of Alaska. They covered a broad range of issues from how to stop mass public shootings to the data on defensive gun uses to the media bias on guns.
(Friday, January 27, 2023)
Hartford, CT, October 3, 2022 (CT Insider)
The two suspected carjackers in Monday’s deadly triple shooting appeared to take their victim by surprise, ambushing him in a brazen attempt to steal his car at gunpoint in broad daylight before he shot them, killing one, police said…
The driver has a pistol permit, Boisvert said…
Police said they were alerted to the shots being fired in the 1400 block of Park Street about 3:15 p.m. Monday…
Police said a preliminary investigation has revealed the two suspects approached the driver with guns drawn as he was getting into his vehicle. The driver “retrieved his own firearm and engaged the suspects,” they said…
Christine Dempsey and Peter Yankowski, “Driver ambushed in deadly Hartford carjacking attempt and shootout, police say,” CT Insider, October 4, 2022.
Southampton, PA, October 7, 2022 (Fox 29 Philadelphia)
Prosecutors in Bucks County ruled that a man acted in self-defense when he fatally shot two men and injured another while being assaulted in the parking lot of a local bar.
According to investigators, Liam Hughes and a friend were walking to their car in the parking lot of Steam Pub in Southampton Township on Oct. 7 when he was attacked by three men.
The combatants reportedly punched Hughes in the face and knocked him to the ground where police say they continue the beating. Hughes, according to police, tried to get into his vehicle, but he was “actively pulled out by one of the attackers.”
During the fight, investigators say Hughes reached into his car and grabbed a gun stored in the space between the driver’s seat and center console. It’s said that Hughes told his attackers that he had a gun and urged them to stop, but when they did not Hughes opened fire…
Investigators said Hughes, an Army reservist for the past 3.5 years, held a valid concealed weapon permit and legally purchased the gun. Hughes called 911 himself and fully cooperated with officers from the Lower Southampton Police Department, according to prosecutors…
Fox 29 Philadelphia Staff, “Man who fatally shot 2 in fight outside Bucks County bar acted in self-defense, DA says,” Fox 29 Philadelphia, October 27, 2022.
Shreveport, LA, October 8, 2022 (KSLA)
It was 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8 when the Shreveport Police Department received a dispatch to the restaurant in the 1700 block of East 70th.
Officers learned that a female employee and the restaurant owner had a confrontation. The employee’s boyfriend then arrived on the scene and got into an argument with the owner. A fight then broke out between the owner and the boyfriend. During the fight, the boyfriend knocked the restaurant owner unconscious.
Employees of the restaurant attempted to stop the boyfriend from driving off. During the confrontation, a passenger of the vehicle pulled out a handgun and shot the boyfriend in the ankle…
Brittney Hazelton, “2 men injured in fight, shooting at Hunter Crab on East 70th,” KSLA, October 9, 2022.
Grants Pass, OR, October 8, 2022 (Fox 26 Medford)
Police say at around 11:30 pm they received several calls about shouting coming from the U-Stow-It Mini Storage on Willow Lane. Callers reported hearing a subject shouting, “get down, or I’ll shoot,” additional callers reported hearing multiple gunshots from the location…
The caretaker for the U-Stow-It Mini Storage admitted to shooting Correa after attempting to place him under citizen’s arrest.
Investigators say they found evidence of a theft in progress at the storage facility and no legitimate reason was found for Correa to be on the property…
Nick Borden, “Shots fired at U-Stow-It Mini Storage in Grants Pass,” Fox 26 Medford, October 9, 2022.
Chicago, IL, October 14, 2022 (Fox 32 Chicago)
A woman shot a man with a knife who was allegedly assaulting another woman outside a residential building in East Garfield Park Friday night.
Chicago police say a 33-year-old woman was trying to enter a residential building in the 700 block of North Spaulding Avenue just after 8 p.m. when a 62-year-old man began swinging at her with a knife.
A 54-year-old woman intervened and shot the man multiple times…
Fox 32 Digital Staff, “Woman shoots knife wielding attacker after another is stabbed in East Garfield Park,” Fox 32 Chicago, October 15, 2022.
Orlando, FL, October 14, 2022 (Fox 35 Orlando)
According to police, on Friday, four would-be robbers attempted a ‘smash and grab’ at a jewelry store in the Magic Mall on West Colonial Drive. Police say at least one of the suspects was armed.
“The store owner shot at the suspects,” police said in an email to FOX 35. “One suspect was found deceased on scene. The three other suspects fled in a vehicle that was later found at a nearby location.”…
“There’s a lot of concealed license carriers here. So if you come to the Magic Mall and you want to commit a crime, there’s a really good chance you’re gonna get shot.”…
Fox 35 News Staff, “2 still on the run after robbery turned deadly shooting at Orlando’s Magic Mall,” Fox 35 Orlando, October 18, 2022.
Kodak, TN, October 15, 2022 (WBIR)
According to police reports, a man was driving with his wife on Winfield Dunn Parkway when a Dodge Ram pulled in front of them. In the report, the wife said that the driver of the pickup truck slammed on the brakes, forcing them to stop too.
The man then walked over to their car and started punching her husband in the face, she said. Then, her husband said he reached for a gun kept near the emergency brake and fired up to three times at the man.
Her husband said he then told the first man to get back into his car and drive to the parking lot of the visitor center. He said he followed the man to the parking lot, where police met them. Before they arrived, the man said he unloaded the gun and left it in the car.
An officer said he smelled alcohol from the Dodge Ram driver. He also said that the driver had puncture wounds on his back…
WBIR Staff, “Sevierville Police say road rage fight resulted in one person wounded in shooting,” WBIR, October 18, 2022.
Warner Robins, GA, October 15, 2022 (WGXA News, HHJ Online)
According to the Warner Robins Police Department, around 2 p.m. on Oct. 15, officers responded to the scene, close to 1128 Watson Boulevard. According to preliminary investigations, the incident began as an argument between two male subjects and escalated into gunfire between the two.
The police department said that 22-year-old Tamar Lewis confronted 26-year-old Jacolyn Jenkins at the scene and started shooting at him. Jenkins returned fire and dialed 911 after fleeing the scene. Lewis was taken to Atrium Health Navicent and later pronounced deceased.
The incident is currently under investigation and is being treated as self-defense, and the police department admits this case is a unique situation for the department…
Fisher further explained that both parties knew each other, and this incident was part of an ongoing conflict between the subjects involved. Lewis was found to be the primary antagonist in this incident…
Jeff Cox, “Police: Fatal shooting in Warner Robins being treated as self-defense,” WGXA News, October 15, 2022.
Brieanna Romero, “WRPD Investigating Shooting on Watson,” HHJ Online, October 19, 2022.
Columbia, MO, October 16, 2022 (ABC 17 News)
Columbia Police investigated a shooting in the 200 block of East Texas Avenue around 3 a.m. Sunday…
Police suspect Brown had driven up to and fired into a parked vehicle that had two adults inside, CPD said in the news release. A man inside the vehicle had been in a relationship with Brown, according to police.
Neither of the people in the parked car was hurt but Brown was hit when the man in the vehicle fired back in self-defense, police say. He is not being charged…
Hannah Falcon, “Columbia woman arrested for domestic assault early Sunday morning,” ABC 17 News, October 16, 2022.
Matthew Sanders, “Columbia police say suspect was shot in self-defense,” ABC 17 News, October 17, 2022.
Gainesville, GA, October 17, 2022 (WSBTV.com)
Police say a bystander shot a man who was armed with knives and threatened people in a Gainesville neighborhood.
Police said they got a call about a man behaving strangely on Shades Valley Lanes around 7:30 a.m. The caller said the man was possibly having a mental health crisis and was running around the neighborhood with knives.
Before police got there, the man threatened two female EMTs loading a patient, officers said. At that point, a neighbor shot the subject multiple times.
Channel 2′s Elizabeth Rawlins talked to a woman who did not want to be identified, but said the shooter is her stepson and he is a former member of the military…
WSBTV.com News Staff, “Police: Military veteran shoots man running through neighborhood, threatening people with knives,” WSBTV.com, October 17, 2022.
Reno, NV, October 19, 2022 (Fox 11 Reno)
Lieutenant Anthony Elges with the Reno Police Department said officers responded to the 100 block of Bartlett Street just before 11 p.m. on report of a shooting…
Elges said all involved parties remained on scene of the shooting and are cooperating with the investigation. No one has been arrested at this time because the incident appears to be an act of self defense…
News 4 & Fox 11 Digital Staff, “One dead after apparent self-defense shooting near UNR,” Fox 11 Reno, October 20, 2022.
Reno, NV, October 23, 2022 (2 News)
Around 4:45 a.m. on October 23, 2022, the Reno Police Department responded to a shooting on South Virginia St near Gentry Way…
Detectives from the robbery/homicide unit responded to the scene and took over the investigation.
All involved parties stayed on scene and are cooperating with the investigation. Reno Police say no arrests were made as the shooting appears to be an act of self-defense…
Sierra Mike, “Police Respond to Fatal Shooting, Appears to Be Self-Defense,” 2 News, October 23, 2022.
Brandon, FL, October 24, 2022 (ABC Action News)
HCSO said on Monday, October 24, around 2:15 p.m., shots were fired at Westfield Brandon Mall. When deputies arrived, they found a man outside the east side of Dillards with a gunshot wound to one of his legs…
According to HCSO, the victim parked his car outside Dillard’s and went into the Brandon Mall to visit a jewelry store. After leaving the mall, officials said two suspects approached him and pointed a gun at him. While one suspect held a gun, the second suspect attempted to take a gold chain, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, off the victim.
HCSO said the victim fought the suspects and was able to hold onto his chain. The suspects took off running and one shot back at the victim, shooting him in the leg. Officials said the victim was able to retrieve a gun from his car and shoot back at the suspects…
Leilyn Torres, “HCSO search for second suspect in Brandon Mall shooting,” ABC Action News, October 24, 2022.
Colorado Springs, CO, October 24, 2022 (KRDO News)
Monday, police received a call for an attempted motor vehicle theft in the 1100 block of S. Chelton Road, just after 8 p.m.
According to police, two suspects confronted the owner of the vehicle. That’s when one suspect fired a round at the victim. CSPD said the victim was armed and fired back at the suspects.
Police said that’s when the suspects got into another vehicle nearby and drove away.
Investigators said the victim wasn’t hit in the exchange and neither were the suspects.
KRDO News Staff, “Colorado Springs Police: Victim in attempted carjacking shoots back at suspects,” KRDO News, October 25, 2022.
Huntington, WV, October 25, 2022 (WSAZ)
Patrol officers were sent to the 1500 block of 6th Avenue just before 10 p.m. for reports of a shooting…
The victim told police that as he was approaching his vehicle, which was parked in the 1500 block of 6th Avenue, he encountered an unknown man who showed him a firearm and shot him.
Huntington Police detectives told WSAZ during their initial investigation it appears the victim and the suspect do not know one another.
The victim also told investigators he had his own firearm and shot at the suspect, who left the area going west.
The suspect dropped what was later determined to be an AR-15 style pistol…
Brenda Bryan, “Police seek person of interest in Huntington shooting,” WSAZ, October 26, 2022.
Hampshire County, WV, October 26, 2022 (West Virginia Metro News)
So far authorities have filed no charges in connection with a shooting death from last week at a school bus stop in Hampshire County.
According to Hampshire County Sheriff Nathan Sions, a man identified as Shawn Davis approached another individual identified as John Dulaney while a number of students were awaiting the arrival of the school bus. Dulaney was sitting in a pickup truck at the bus stop around 6:30 a.m. last Wednesday.
“Mr. Davis was carrying a knife at the time he approached Dulaney. There was a verbal confrontation and Mr. Dulaney reported Mr. Davis reached through the window with the knife. The knife was closed but he said he was afraid he was going to flip it open and that’s when he essentially fired two shots.” said Sions…
Sions said the investigation continues, but all indications are it was a case of self defense. Investigators will pass their findings along to the prosecuting attorney who will likely present the evidence to a grand jury to determine if Dulaney should face charges. The weapon used in the shooting was legal and Dulaney was legally allowed to carry the firearm…
Chris Lawrence, “Hampshire County sheriff releases more information on bus stop shooting death,” West Virginia Metro News, November 1, 2022.
Houston, TX, October 28, 2022 (Houston Chronicle)
A man was shot in the groin after trying to rob a tire shop early Friday in south Houston, authorities said.
The shooting happened at 12:15 a.m. 24 Hour Tires, 1419 South Loop West, according to ONSCENE.TV…
The shooter, 33, may have been an employee at the store, and they are cooperating with officers, police said.
Gordon has been charged with burglary of a building and is still hospitalized.
Shaniece Holmes-Brown, “A man was shot in the groin after trying to rob a tire shop in south Houston, police said,” Houston Chronicle, October 28, 2022.
Spokane Valley, WA, October 30, 2022 (Big Country News)
On Sunday, October 30 at approximately 7:30 a.m., Spokane Valley Deputies responded to the 1300 block of N. Bowdish Road in Spokane Valley for the report of a stolen flatbed trailer and mini excavator. The caller told dispatch that her husband was in his truck chasing a pair of suspected thieves, who attached their (suspect’s) truck to the victim’s flatbed trailer with the excavator and drove away.
A couple of minutes later, additional callers reported to dispatch that they had heard gunshots in the 1500 block of N. Bowdish.
According to a release from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the victim who had chased after the suspected thieves tried to block the suspect’s vehicle, but the driver backed up and then drove toward the victim, causing him to fear for his safety. The victim then removed and fired his pistol at the suspect’s truck…
The victim was cooperative and later released without charges. The suspect’s truck and the victim’s trailer, excavator, and handgun were all seized as evidence…
Big Country News Staff, “Spokane Police Attempting to Locate Suspects Who Allegedly Attempted to Steal Flatbed Trailer, Mini Excavator,” Big Country News, October 31, 2022.
Lubbock, TX, October 31, 2022 (EverythingLubbock.com)
A Lubbock man used a gun to defend himself during a vehicle burglary early Monday morning, according to a report from the Lubbock Police Department.
According to the report, the victim told a Lubbock Police officer that he grabbed a firearm after he noticed his vehicle lights turn on around 1:25 a.m.
The victim told police that he confronted two suspects. According to the report, the victim said it looked like one suspect was going to run at him, so he fired a shot into the ground.
Both suspects ran off and were not located, according to the police report.
Caitlyn Rooney, “Lubbock man uses gun to defend himself during burglary, LPD report says,” EverythingLubbock.com, November 2, 2022.
Philadelphia, PA, October 31, 2022 (NBC Philadelphia)
The first shooting occurred at about 4 p.m. along the 6400 block of Dickens Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. A man was shot six times in the abdomen by 27-year-old Phan Tran, who allegedly caused a car crash and then an argument leading to gunfire, authorities said…
“Tran is alleged to have caused a crash in which he collided with another vehicle carrying two women and a 5-year-old child,” according to Jane Roh, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Both drivers got out of their vehicles and started arguing, according to the DA’s office. A bystander tried to intervene and “came into physical contact” with Tran, who then allegedly fired at the unnamed bystander, striking him multiple times, Roh said. The man in his 30s was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in critical condition, according to police.
“The passenger in the other vehicle, also a licensed gun owner, retrieved her firearm and fired a single shot at the defendant, who was not struck,” the release states. Police said both weapons were recovered…
David Chang and Christine Mattson, “At Least 3 Dead, 4 Hurt in 5 Separate Shootings in Philly in a Matter of Hours,” NBC Philadelphia, October 31, 2022.
Mansfield, TX, October 31, 2022 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
A man was arrested Wednesday after Mansfield police say he was shot and wounded as he attempted to run over a woman during a domestic dispute on a restaurant parking lot…
Mansfield police said the Arlington woman has not been charged at this time…
The shooting occurred just after 7:30 p.m. Monday in the 1700 block of a U.S. 287 frontage road…
Detectives determined that during a domestic dispute McPherson assaulted a 32-year-old and attempted to run her over with his vehicle. Investigators believed the woman pulled out a handgun and shot him once…
Domingo Ramirez Jr., “A woman shot a man who tried to run her over in Mansfield. Now he faces charges,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 3, 2022.
CPRC’S Executive Director Nikki Goeser talks with host Miranda Khan on America’s Voice Live about the advice that “experts” give women who are stalked. Nikki talks about her own terrifying stalking experience and the importance of being able to protect yourself and your loved ones. Nikki discussed her piece at Fox News titled “My Stalker Murdered my Husband. Here’s how you can protect yourself.”
(Friday, January 27, 2023)
Dr. John Lott was invited by state Senator Michael McKay to testify before the Maryland State Senate Judiciary Committee on SB1. A copy of Dr. Lott’s testimony is available here.
Rasmussen Reports has a new national survey of 1,000 American Adults on August 21-22, 2022, showing that by a 49%-to-37% margin, Americans support armed teachers to stop school shootings. This is a significant change from their February 28, 2018 survey, where Americans opposed it by a 43%-to-48% margin. In that earlier survey, adults with children […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about the large systematic errors in the FBI’s count of armed civilians who have stopped what otherwise would have been mass public shootings. See also Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics titled: “How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass […]
The paper is available to be downloaded here: http://ssrn.com/abstract=4205992 Abstract We had a simple goal: match the number of voters who voted with the number of ballots cast. After elections, concerns are raised that ballots were counted multiple times (so that there could be more ballots cast than voters who voted) and that ballots were […]
Here is the piece that Dr. John Lott had at Newsweek on Biden’s crime talk on Tuesday, but his talk was filled with a large number of other inaccuracies, such as “the bullet out of an AR-15 travels five times as rapidly as a bullet shot out of any other gun, five times.” There are a […]
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Newsweek on Biden’s crime speech this week. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden traveled to Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to attempt to “flip the script” on Republicans with a law-and-order campaign message. The theme of Biden’s speech was that “the answer is not to defund our police […]
Dr. John Lott joined Vicki McKenna on her statewide radio show in Wisconsin to discuss Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics titled: “How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers — and Media Play Along.” (Wednesday, August 10, 2022)
Dr. John Lott talked to Ed Crane on Sacramento’s KTKZ 1380 AM to discuss the mall mass shooting in Greenwood, Indiana stopped by a concealed carry permit holder and the danger of gun-free zones. (Wednesday, August 17, 2022, from 7:32 to 7:45 AM)
From One America News: “Crime Prevention Research Center President, Dr. John Lott said political bias at the FBI may be causing the misrepresentation of the number of armed people who respond to mass public shootings. One America’s John Hines has more from Washington.“ Dr. Lott did this interview from his hotel room in Lima, Peru […]
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at Real Clear Politics. The piece also appeared in the Daily Signal, Zerohedge, and The Center Square. . A lot of people are moving out of California. Over the last two years, California has lost about 300,000 people. Major companies, including Telsa, Oracle Corp, and HP have abandoned […]
A new Rasmussen Reports Survey of 1,000 U.S. Likely Voters conducted on August 17-18, 2022, shows that Americans are very concerned about violent crime, with 61% very concerned and 25% somewhat concerned. Only 12% are not concerned, and 1% are not sure. The agreement holds across sex, age, race, party, and ideology, though Democrats, liberals, […]
Dr. John Lott debated legal philosopher Douglas Husak, MCSC founder Niko House, and psychologist Frank McAndrew about gun control on the Roundtable. The panel was featured on Roundtable.io, which has a network of sites, Bitcoin Magazine being the most well known, that operate on a shared digital publishing platform focusing on Web3 and big news/causes […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Peter Christiansen and Nick Chrestenson on KGVO-AM’s Talk Back program for an hour about mass shooting statistics and shared his concerns. (Thursday, June 2, 2022, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM) Lott referenced the tragic school shootings in Uvalde, Texas, as well as the mass shooting that occurred in Buffalo, New […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on CBS News Special: America Changed to talk about the nation’s latest mass shooting and the continued debate over guns. (Friday, May 27, 2022)
Dr. John Lott talked on Chicago’s most popular morning talk program, WIND-AM’s Morning Answer, about the potential gun legislation. (Wednesday, June 15, 2022, 8:36 to 8:51 AM CT)
UPDATED (original post on July 19th): Errors in Associated Press article titled “Rare in US for an active shooter to be stopped by bystander.” It isn’t common for mass shootings to be stopped in such fashion. From 2000 to 2021, fewer than 3% of 433 active attacks in the U.S. ended with a civilian firing […]
Under the label of “assault-style” weapon, the Canadian government plans to ban a broad range of semi-automatic rifles. They have already prohibited the sale or transfer of these guns, but now comes the mandatory confiscation. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair claims that the banned guns are made for “military use.” The buyback offer applies to the […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Martinez on his national radio show about the President’s misinformation and flat-out lies to support his gun agenda. Besides, statistics show that 50% of shooters were reportedly seen by a mental health expert at the time or shortly before they went on their murderous rampage. (Tuesday, July 12, 2022, […]
Dr. John Lott talked to old WBT host Jason Lewis on The Brett Winterble Show about the Indiana mall shooting stopped by a law-abiding citizen carrying a concealed handgun, and Supreme Court’s ruling on the right to bear arms. (Thursday, July 21, 2022, from 4:33 to 4:50 PM ET)
A July 5th national telephone and online survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters by Rasmussen Reports and The National Pulse finds large percentages of all types of Americans believe that mail-in voting will lead to more cheating in elections. A smaller number, but still significantly more voters, think that widespread vote fraud will affect the […]
“The Crime Prevention Research Center reports that at least 20 states have allowed citizens to carry firearms in the capitols for some time. Some states allow open carry of firearms by citizens even if they do not have a permit, such as Kentucky. Others may require that only permit holders can carry in their capitols. Editorial, “Those […]
Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) cites CPRC work during a Thursday House Judiciary Committee markup on H.R. 7910 the “Protecting Our Kids Act.” He introduces a list of compiling cases CPRC put together, in which “good people with a gun” have stopped mass public shootings. (Thursday, June 2, 2022)
Dr. John Lott appeared on Chicago’s Shaun Thompson Show on WIND-AM to discuss Dr. Lott’s new piece at Real Clear Politics titled: “When Misinformation Drives Bad Policy.” (Wednesday, May 18, 2022, from 6:05 to 6:22 PM)
“With some GOP senators reportedly considering legislation to limit Americans access to guns in the wake of recent violence, experts warn that the implementation of red flag laws would remove all due process protections for Americans who own firearms. One America’s John Hines has more from Washington.” One American Newsroom, “Crime Prevention Research Center: ‘Red […]
Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) authored a bill that mandates an audit of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This is not the first time that Massie has pushed this idea. Amazingly, the bill passed by a 380 to 47 vote. For years, Dr. John Lott has pointed out the errors in the NICS […]
Dr. John Lott Jr. was on WZFG-AM’s What’s On Your Mind with Scott Hennen to discuss voter fraud issues and the media bias on mass public shooters’ political views. See also Dr. Lott’s latest piece at Townhall titled: “Media Falsely Claim Mass Public Shooters are ‘Right-wingers’ When They’re Environmental Extremists.” (Monday, May 23, 2022, from 10:35 […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Bill Cunningham on both his national Sunday radio show (Sunday, May 22, 2022) and his local radio show on the giant 700 WLW in Cincinnati (Friday, May 20, 2022) about Lott’s recent pieces at Real Clear Politics (“When Misinformation Drives Gun Bad Policy“) and Townhall (“Media Falsely Claim Mass Public […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Tom Tucker on North Dakota and Minnesota’s WZFG-AM radio about Lott’s recent pieces at Real Clear Politics (“When Misinformation Drives Gun Bad Policy“) and Townhall (“Media Falsely Claim Mass Public Shooters are ‘Right-wingers’ When They’re Environmental Extremists“). The publisher of a new survey on guns and violent crime says the […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Charles Heller on Liberty Watch Radio about Lott’s recent pieces at Real Clear Politics (“When Misinformation Drives Gun Bad Policy“) and Townhall (“Media Falsely Claim Mass Public Shooters are ‘Right-wingers’ When They’re Environmental Extremists“). (Sunday, May 22, 2022)
In this episode of CBS’ S.W.A.T. (Season 5, Episode 19, May 1, 2022), parts for a plastic gun are smuggled onto a plane and then used by a criminal to shoot a U.S. Marshall. The plastic gun is then given to one of the other plane’s hijackers who attempts to shoot the S.W.A.T. members as […]
Woodbridge, VA, February 27, 2022 A good Samaritan fired shots at an oncoming car that eventually hit a woman, and his son, following a melee at a Woodbridge commuter lot. The incident started as a domestic dispute. The good Samaritan possessed his weapon legally and will not be charged. On Saturday, February 27 at 7:25 […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about inflation since Joe Biden took office and his new executive orders on gun control. (Wednesday, April 13, 2022)
You would think that the Heller and MacDonald U.S. Supreme Court decisions would prevent states from banning all handguns in a state, but California’s microstamping regulation will soon move to ban all handguns. The irony is that if the Supreme Court strikes down the May Issue concealed handgun laws that you see in New York […]
The court used strict scrutiny in deciding the case. Judges and Nelson and Lee, who were Trump judicial appointees, were in the majority, while Judge Stein, a Clinton appointee, dissented. A key discussion is available here: the historical record showed that the Second Amendment protects the right of young adults to keep and bear arms, […]
Dr. John Lott talked to Pastor Greg on his national radio show which is heard on 51 different stations about President Biden’s new firearm regulation and the Supreme Court Case on New York’s Concealed Handgun Law. (Monday, April 18, 2022)
According to CBS’ NCIS LA, if only US guns weren’t being smuggled into Mexico by greedy gun makers, Mexico wouldn’t have a gun crime problem. Here is a piece on these very claims that John Lott had in the Wall Street Journal in 2019 about Mexico’s extremely high murder rate. Another month, another record number […]
With the new Spanish editions of More Guns, Less Crime and Gun Control Myths, the CPRC’s Nikki Goeser and Dr. John Lott are scheduled to be giving a series of talks in August across South America. Nikki will be speaking in the following countries. Brazil — August 4th in Joinville, Santa Catarina Paraguay — Events will be on August […]
Dr. John Lott appeared on the First Right podcast presented by Restoration PAC to discuss President Biden’s new gun control regulations. (Thursday, April 14, 2022)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece up at The Federalist on the continuing abortion debate. With the news that the U.S. Supreme Court will likely overturn Roe v. Wade, commentary has largely concentrated on the moral issues, women’s desires to not bear a child to term, and the soundness of the original court decision. However, the current […]
Dr. John Lott talked with host Steve Noxon about his recent piece at The Federalist titled “Montana’s 2020 Election Irregularities Are Still Unaddressed Despite Recounts Gone Wrong, Erased Records, And Suddenly Surfacing Ballots.” Thursday, April 21, 2022
From One America News: “The President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, Dr. John Lott, says that soft on crime policies supported by wealthy liberals are “coming back to bite them” with sharp spikes in crime in many wealthy and liberal neighborhoods. One America’s John Hines has more from Washington.“
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Dr. John Lott talked to Andy Caldwell on his radio show about the research at Real Clear Investigations, which measures exactly how the locations of crime have been changing in a city such as Los Angeles. (Thursday, April 28, 2022)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvvZN9KbVZs
Dr. John Lott appeared on NewsMax’s Chris Salcedo Show to discuss election integrity in swing states.
(NewsMax’s Chris Salcedo Show, Wednesday, April 27, 2022)
Dr. John Lott talked to Dan Carroll on 700 WLW, Cincinnati’s giant 50,000-watt radio station, about gun violence and election fraud in the state of Montana. See also Dr. Lott’s piece at The Federalist about the problems with voting even in Montana.
(Wednesday, April 20, 2022, from 9:07 to 9:26 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Steve Gruber on the Michigan Talk Network about his researchfinding evidence of 2020 voter fraud.
(Wednesday, April 6, 2022)
Television show bias against guns is never-ending. You won’t see an entertainment television show that has a civilian successfully using a gun defensively. Instead, something always seems to go wrong when guns are used defensively (from being fatally shot by the criminal without stopping the crime to getting in the way of police to continually having the gun stolen and use in a crime to it being used in an accidental shooting), and this episode of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU is no different (Season 23, Episode 4, October 7, 2021). This episode illustrates all the normal gun control myths pushed against women using a gun defensively. In this case, when the woman tries to reach her gun it is taken from her and used to pistol-whip her. The gun is also used to kill her baby as if the man who raped her couldn’t kill the child without the gun. A later scene shows that the rapist took the gun with him and is using it to threaten a police officer.
More examples of these types of shows are available here.
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.
Dr. John Lott was on the national Wayne Allyn Root Show to talk about Joe Biden’s new executive orders on gun control and voter fraud in the 2020 election.
(Monday, April 18, 2022, from 6:35 to 6:44 PM ET)
Dr. John Lott talked to Sebastian Gorka about Biden’s newest gun control proposals, particularly his new ghost gun regulations.
“Let’s talk the Second Amendment with someone who really is the expert on the truth about gun crime in America.” — Sebastian Gorka
(Friday, April 22, 2022, from 4:45 to 4:53 PM)
Dr. John Lott talked to Larry Marino on Los Angeles’ 870 AM about the recent mass shooting. From the radio station’s post:
The answer to last week’s mass shooting in Sacramento from President Biden and Governor Gavin Newsom is more gun laws, but is that really the answer?
Sunday, April 10, 2022
As Governor DeSantis notes, 25 states already have Constitutional Carry laws. From Tampa Bay’s WTSP Channel 10:
Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Friday by the time he is “done” as leader of the state, Floridians will have a “Constitutional Carry” law. “Well the one thing I wanted the Legislature to do, and I think we will do it — I can’t tell you exactly when — but I’m pretty confident I will be able to sign a ‘Constitutional Carry’ into law in the State of Florida,” DeSantis said at an unrelated news conference in Central Florida.
Claire Farrow, “DeSantis to push for ‘Constitutional Carry’ law for Florida,” April 29, 2022.
Dr. John Lott talked to Jeff Stein on Iowa’s giant 50,000-watt KXEL-AM radio station about a new piece up at The Federalist on Montana’s 2020 Election Irregularities.
(Thursday, April 21, 2022, from 10:05 to 10:22 AM CDT)
President Biden received hundreds of thousands of “excess” votes in Democratic-controlled areas in the 2020 election, according to an academic study on voter fraud that suggests the push to relax voting standards created new opportunities for electoral mischief.
John R. Lott Jr., the man behind the research, teased out those numbers by comparing Democratic-dominant areas to Republican-dominant places over the past two presidential elections, particularly in places where claims of election fraud were reported in 2020.
Looking at six swing states, the data he crunched found that voter turnout in Republican areas increased from 2016 to 2020 while voter turnout among Democrats dropped — except in places where voter fraud was claimed.
That accounted for 255,000 “excess” votes for Mr. Biden above what would be expected, Mr. Lott said. His paper has been accepted for publication in Public Choice, a peer-reviewed journal specializing in the intersection of economics and political science.
“More heavily Democratic counties actually had a slightly lower turnout in 2020, except for counties where vote fraud was alleged. In those counties, you had a huge increase in turnout,” Mr. Lott told The Washington Times in an interview explaining his findings.
“In some of those swing states, you had counties where vote fraud was alleged. In some of those swing states, you had counties where vote fraud wasn’t alleged. And yet you only had huge increases in turnout where vote fraud was alleged,” he said.
Taking another tack, Mr. Lott looked at specific voting precincts that touched each other but where one was inside a Republican-dominant county and the other inside a Democratic-leaning county where there were fraud accusations.
He found that in-person voting for the neighboring precincts was about the same, but absentee or mailed balloting tilted toward Democrats in the Democratic precincts.
Mr. Lott said there is no clear reason why absentee turnout alone should increase in just the Democratic jurisdiction, which suggests shenanigans were afoot.
“You’re comparing two tiny areas that are very homogenous, very similar to each other, across the street from each other, and the thing that differs from these two, for the absentee ballots, is where the ballots were counted,” the researcher said.
Mr. Lott runs the Crime Prevention Research Center and has been a major figure in gun and crime debates over the years. He served in the Justice Department’s office of legal policy at the end of the Trump administration, where he first conducted his election research.
His findings raise questions about the outcome of the 2020 election and about the path forward.
President Trump’s defenders filed dozens of cases alleging voter fraud in 2020, but they were generally dismissed by judges saying there wasn’t any concrete evidence of problems or, in some cases, no proof that mishaps were large enough to overturn the official count.
Actual specific instances of voter fraud have been prosecuted in past elections, including 2020, but they are isolated incidents. Voting rights advocates say the small numbers prove fraud isn’t an issue.
Mr. Lott said his numbers work to counter that sentiment, suggesting the level of mischief is significantly larger than the few cases formally brought before courts.
“Time after time, the news media keeps on saying there’s no evidence of vote fraud there. I think it’s at least a little bit harder for them to go and claim that,” Mr. Lott said.
William F. Shughart II, editor of Public Choice and professor at Utah State University, called the peer-reviewed paper “provocative.”
“By comparing differences in election results for 2020’s presidential candidates between in-person and mail-in ballots in matched samples of precincts in selected U.S. states, It offers a novel way of detecting ‘irregularities’ in postal voting,” he said in an email. . . . .
Stephen Dinan, “Biden got 255,000 ‘excess’ votes in fraud-tainted swing states in 2020, study finds,” The Washington Times, Monday, March 28, 2022
A new deep dive into discrepancies in the ballot counts of six key battleground states in the 2020 election has turned up more than 250,000 “excess votes” for President Joe Biden, and maybe far more.
The key point in the upcoming peer-reviewed study for the journal Public Choice by economist and noted gun expert John Lott Jr. is that the excess voting may challenge — or explain — Biden’s margin of victory over former President Donald Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. . . .
Paul Bedard, “New report: 255,000 ‘excess votes’ for Biden in six key 2020 states,” Washington Examiner, March 28, 2022.
A new study on the 2020 presidential election found more than 250,000 “excess votes” for President Joe Biden, RealClearPolitics reports.
Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott, a former senior adviser for research and statistics at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, conducted the study.
“New research of mine is forthcoming in the peer-reviewed economics journal Public Choice, and it finds evidence of around 255,000 excess votes (possibly as many as 368,000) for Joe Biden in six swing states where [former President] Donald Trump lodged accusations of fraud,” Lott wrote in a Monday commentary for RealClearPolitics. . . .
Charlie McCarthy, “Study: 255,000 ‘Excess Votes’ for Biden in 6 Key 2020 States,” NewsMax, March 28, 2022.
At least 255,000 excess votes were cast in the 2020 presidential election across six battleground states, according to a new study that examined individual voting precincts.
Economist John Lott, president of the Crime Research Prevention Center, is the author of the peer-reviewed study, which looked at precincts in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The study, set to be published in the academic journal Public Choice, compares precincts where there were allegations of voter fraud to similar precincts in neighboring counties that had no fraud allegations. In each comparison, the two precincts examined fall on opposite sides of a county line—in some cases across the street.
Precincts are county-level election subdivisions, usually with fewer than 1,000 voters. Precincts in counties with fraud allegations had significantly higher voter participation than adjacent precincts in counties without alleged fraud, the study found.
Fred Lucas, “Study Raises New Questions About 2020 Election Results in 6 States,” The Daily Signal, March 28, 2022
A new report by John Lott, Jr. at the journal Public Choices reveals Joe Biden received more than 250,000 excess votes for president in the 2020 election.
Lott says there were 255,000 excess votes and possibly as many as 368,000 for Biden in the key states.
Jim Hoft, “New Study by John Lott Jr. Reveals Biden Received More than 225,000 Excess Votes in 2020 Election,” Gateway Pundit, March 28, 2022.
A new study into 2020 election discrepancies in six battleground states claims that there were at least 250,000 “excess votes” for Joe Biden, and potentially many more.
The claim is made in a forthcoming peer-reviewed study conducted by economist and gun expert John Lott Jr. for the journal Public Choice. The study awaits final approval but it says that many as 368,000 excess votes in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin may have tipped the election to Joe Biden, according to Lott, who reported his findings at Real Clear Politics.
“Biden only carried these states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – by a total of 313,253 votes. Excluding Michigan, the gap was 159,065.”
Lott insists that the point of his work “isn’t to contest the 2020 election,” but rather to point out “that we have a real problem that needs to be dealt with.”
“Americans must have confidence in future elections,” he says.
Lott also blames some Trump allies, like Sidney Powell, for discrediting valid concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election by promising to “Release the Kraken” and then providing no evidence.
Lott, however, argues that he has the receipts. He reviewed voter registration rolls, in-person vote counts, absentee voting, and provisional ballots in various counties where fraud allegedly took place and compared them to like counties where these metrics should have been similar. Instead, he found statistically improbable differences, suggesting that fraud may have occurred.
“In 2016, there was no unexplained gap in absentee ballot counts. But 2020 was a different story,” Lott explained. “Just in Fulton County, Georgia, my test yielded an unexplained 17,000 votes – 32% more than Biden’s margin over Trump in the entire state.” . . .
MATT MARGOLIS, “Study Claims 255,000 ‘Excess Votes’ for Biden in Battleground States,” PJ Media, March 28, 2022
Dr. John Lott at this piece in the Montana Standard (Butte, Montana) and the Missoula Current.
If a criminal figures out a more effective way to break into people’s homes to steal more, should he receive a lighter sentence per dollar of what he steals? Biden’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, certainly thinks so.
The legal system doesn’t normally work that way. Where each crime a criminal gets convicted for gets a separate penalty. That has traditionally been true for child pornography, where more pictures of children mean crimes have been committed.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jackson discussed concerns that she was lenient on people who possessed child pornography. There were seven cases where she gave sentences way below the federal sentencing guidelines. As a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, she also pushed to lower the penalties for child pornography.
“More serious child pornography offenders were based on the volume, based on the number of photographs that they received in the mail, and that made total sense before when we didn’t have the internet, when we didn’t have the distribution,” Jackson explained.
Jackson claims that a criminal getting 100 child porn pictures through the mail is less harmful than getting 100 pictures on his computer over the internet. The point of the penalties is to discourage pedophiles from getting more pictures because taking pictures harms children. The greater the demand for those pictures, the more children are harmed.
Indeed, Jackson acknowledged this in her answer: “There is only a market because there are lookers. You are contributing to child sex abuse.” But she doesn’t understand where her answer logically leads. Both electronic images of child porn and printed copies increase the demand.
ABC News came to Jackson’s defense by using Biden administration talking points to note that Republican Senators had voted for judicial nominees who sentenced criminals below the guidelines for child porn cases. But there is a problem with this claim. Judges will once in a long while deviate from the sentencing guidelines. Indeed, most judges have probably done it a couple or a few times out of the hundreds of cases that they have heard because there might be unusual circumstances that might auger for either stiffer or more lenient sentencing. Republican judges probably do this much less often than Democrat ones. But going through all the judges that Hawley has voted for and finding a few cases doesn’t prove what ABC thinks it does.
Trump got 174 district court and 54 circuit court judges confirmed. Of all those judges, “An ABC News review of federal judges appointed and confirmed during the Trump administration found nearly a dozen had handed down below-guideline sentences in cases of defendants viewing, possessing, transporting or distributing child pornography.” Suppose that “nearly a dozen” means eleven judges — that is still just 4.8% of the judges that Trump placed on the bench. Of course, ABC provides no information on exactly the number of cases that handful of judges sentenced below the guidelines for any type of pornography case. For many of that eleven, it could be just one case each.
What is clear is that Jackson is an outlier. For her to do it seven times truly distinguishes her.
No one should be surprised by Jackson’s generally lenient sentencing of all criminals. Jackson was a public defender, and they tend to be very liberal. A very liberal president appointed her. Left-wing activist organizations strongly support her.
With violent crime soaring and Democrats facing backlash over cutting police budgets and left-wing District Attorneys refusing to prosecute violent criminals, Biden nominated and Democrats will vote for a Supreme Court justice who personifies soft on crime policies.
John R. Lott, Jr., “Brown Jackson too soft on crime,” The Montana Standard, March 28, 2022. John R.Lott, Jr., “SupCo nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson soft on crime,” Missoula Current, Marcch 29, 2022.
Gun Control advocate who is driven to despair because of all the money that “gun nuts” have to push their agenda holds a hostage with a gun that she supposedly bought “in one day” in New York City.
FBI S4 E14 March 8, 2022
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national Armed American Radio show about Justice Thomas’ illness and what would happen if he were to leave the Supreme Court. They also talked about what we can expect in the New York concealed carry case.
(Sunday, March 20, 2022, from 9:35 to 10:00 PM)
With Chicago’s violent crime rate surging and Lightfoot cutting the police budget in 2020, she simultaneously set up an additional security force of police officers to provide her and her family protection. In 2020, Unit 544 for the police department was created. Meanwhile, in 2020, Lightfoot cut the city’s police force by 400 officers and proposed cutting their budget by $80 million.
Unit 544 began with a handful of officers and has grown, as of March 21, to a roster of 65 officers, five sergeants and a lieutenant, city records show.
Like previous Chicago mayors, Lightfoot also has a separate personal bodyguard detail, which includes about 20 officers, the records show. . . .
The unit was limited to officers with at least five years on the job. The desired qualifications included “experience in providing security and property protection services.” . . .
Frank Main, Fran Spielman, “Dozens of Chicago cops guard mayor and family in below-the-radar security unit created in 2020,” Chicago Sun-Times, March 28, 2022
Dr. John Lott talked to Mark Walters on his national radio show the CRPC’s research on Constitutional Carry (here and here). They discussed the movement among the states pushing Constitutional Carry.
(Wednesday, March 9, 2022)
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed at Real Clear Politics. This piece discusses his forthcoming journal piece in Public Choice that measures vote fraud in the November 2020 presidential election.
By a margin of 52% to 40%, voters believe that “cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.” That’s per a Rasmussen Reports survey from this month. This stands in stark contrast to the countless news stories editorializing about “no evidence of voter fraud” and “the myth of voter fraud.”
It isn’t just Republicans who believe this cheating occurred. Even 34% of Democrats believe it, as do 38% of those who “somewhat” support President Biden. A broad range of Americans think this: men, women, all age groups, whites, those who are neither white nor black, Republicans, those who are neither Republicans nor Democrats, all job categories, all income groups except those making over $200,000 per year, and all education groups except those who attended graduate school.
And with good reason.New research of mine is forthcoming in the peer-reviewed economics journal Public Choice, and it finds evidence of around 255,000 excess votes (possibly as many as 368,000) for Joe Biden in six swing states where Donald Trump lodged accusations of fraud. Biden only carried these states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – by a total of 313,253 votes. Excluding Michigan, the gap was 159,065.
The point of this work isn’t to contest the 2020 election, but to point out that we have a real problem that needs to be dealt with. Americans must have confidence in future elections.
Some Trump allies, such as attorney Sidney Powell, who famously promised to “Release the Kraken” and then provided no evidence, have helped to discredit these concerns.
Courts have rejected challenges to the 2020 presidential vote, generally citing the lack of evidence that any alleged fraud would have altered the outcome in a particular state. The Republican plaintiffs argued that since their observers couldn’t watch the vote counts or were prevented from seeing other evidence, they couldn’t provide such proof without investigations backed by subpoena power. Still, while some judges have agreed that irregularities had occurred in 2020, but weren’t willing to grant discovery in the absence of evidence that fraud could reverse the election results. Republicans thus faced a Catch-22 situation.
Recounts haven’t been useful in resolving fraud concerns, as they merely involve recounting the same potentially fraudulent ballots.
Signature verification is far from perfect, as election employees have as little as five seconds to check a signature. Amidst unprecedented numbers of mail-in ballots in the 2020 election, many states didn’t even try to verify signatures. If someone mailed in multiple ballots, there was virtually no way to catch them. And without tamper-resistant photo IDs, fraud is difficult to prove. Unless someone tries voting multiple times in the same precinct, there is no way to catch them.
My research provides three tests of vote fraud.
First, I compared precincts in a county with alleged fraud to adjacent, similar precincts in neighboring counties with no fraud allegations. Precincts tend to be small, homogeneous areas, and many consist of fewer than a thousand registered voters. When comparing President Trump’s absentee ballot vote shares among these adjacent precincts, I accounted for differences in Trump’s in-person vote share and in registered voters’ demographics in both precincts.
While precincts count in-person votes, central county offices are responsible for counting absentee or mail-in ballots. A county with systemic fraud may count absentee or mail-in ballots differently from a neighboring county. We can try to detect this fraud by comparing the results in bordering precincts that happen to fall on opposite sides of a county line. These precincts will tend to be virtually identical to each other – voters may simply be on the other side of the street from their precinct neighbors.
In 2016, there was no unexplained gap in absentee ballot counts. But 2020 was a different story. Just in Fulton County, Georgia, my test yielded an unexplained 17,000 votes – 32% more than Biden’s margin over Trump in the entire state.
With the focus on winning the state, there is no apparent reason why Democrats would get out the absentee ballot vote more in one precinct than in a neighboring precinct with similar political and demographic characteristics.
Next I applied the same method to provisional ballots in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Contrary to state law, voters were allegedly allowed to correct defects in absentee ballots by submitting provisional ballots on Election Day. My analysis found that such permissions in Allegheny and Philadelphia Counties alone contributed to a statistically significant 6,700 additional votes for Biden – in a state decided by fewer than 81,000 votes.
Finally, artificially large voter turnouts can also be a sign of vote fraud. This fraud could come in the form of filling out absentee ballots for people who didn’t vote, voting by ineligible people, or bribing people for their votes.
Republican-leaning swing state counties had higher turnouts relative to the 2016 election. Democratic-leaning counties had lower turnouts, except for the Democratic counties with alleged vote fraud, which had very high turnouts.
My estimates likely understate the true amount of fraud with absentee ballots, as I didn’t attempt to ascertain possible in-person voting fraud. Allegations have arisen of many ineligible in-person voters in Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In Fulton County, Georgia, 2,423 voters were not listed as registered on the state’s records, and 2,560 felons voted even though they had not completed their sentences.
Vote fraud erodes trust in elections, and makes people less motivated to vote. Compared to Europe and other developed countries, America is unique in its lax approach to vote fraud. When all demographic and political groups in the U.S. support voter photo IDs and even 46% of Democrats believe that mail-in voting leads to cheating, ignoring Americans’ concerns won’t make the problem go away.
John R. Lott, Jr., “New Peer-Reviewed Research Finds Evidence of 2020 Voter Fraud,” Real Clear Politics, March 27, 2022.
Dr. John Lott talked to Aaron Flint on the Montana Talks Network about Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court.
(Friday, March 25, 2022, from 8:40 to 8:50 AM)
70,789 people represent about 5.73% of the 1.236 million adults in Philadelphia. This is a notable increase in applications for Pennsylvania, which already ranks 5th in the percentage of adults with permits (1.486 million, August 2, 2021).
From 2017 through 2020, the number of license-to-carry applications in Philadelphia held about steady, ranging between 11,049 and 11,814 applications each year. But in 2021, 70,789 people applied for licenses to carry guns. . . .
Victor Fiorillo, “License-to-Carry Applications Have Skyrocketed In Philly — Even More Than You’d Think,” Philadelphia Magazine, March 16, 2022.
Dr. John Lott’s research on vote fraud has been accepted at the academic journal Public Choice. People can download and read the paper available here. I think that this is research that will be getting some attention.
Abstract
This study reports three tests measuring vote fraud in the 2020 US presidential election, although they provide inconsistent evidence. To isolate the impact of a county’s vote-counting process and potential fraud on candidates’ vote margins, I first compare voting precincts in a county with alleged fraud to adjacent precincts in neighboring counties with no allegations of fraud. I compute the differences in President Trump’s vote shares on absentee ballots in those adjacent precincts, controlling for the differences in his vote shares on ballots cast in person. I also control for registered voters’ demographics and compare data for the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. When I examine Georgia and Pennsylvania separately, weak evidence of vote fraud on absentee ballots is found. However, combining the samples produces significant results and implies at least 10,000 additional votes for Biden in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny and Georgia’s Fulton counties. I then apply the same method to provisional ballots in Allegheny County, where, contrary to state law, voters were allowed to correct alleged defects in absentee ballots by submitting provisional ballots on Election Day. My analysis finds that such permission contributed to a statistically significant additional 6,700 votes for Biden. Finally, vote fraud can show up as artificially larger voter turnouts~~,~~ higher rates of filling out absentee ballots for people who hadn’t voted, dead people voting, ineligible people voting, or payments for votes. The estimates for Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin combined indicate an average of 255,000 excess votes for Biden.
Keywords: Vote fraud, absentee ballots, voter turnout rate, provisional ballots, presidential electionJEL Classification: D72, D73, K16
Dr. John Lott talks to Larry Elder about a broad range of crime and gun control issues.
(Tuesday, March 15, 2022)
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at the Missoulian that discusses how the Biden administration is using financial regulations to achieve gun control and destroy the US domestic oil and gas production.
Some Democrats are pushing back on President Biden’s plan to buy oil from totalitarian governments like Venezuela, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. “We shouldn’t be advancing other countries who don’t share our values,” said Sen. Jon Tester last week. Tester is exactly right. But Biden is working hard to destroy all our domestic energy industries, and, unfortunately, Senator Jon Tester keeps supporting Biden’s radical nominees who are implementing these policies.
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Biden is using all the regulatory tools at his disposal to “debank” those industries he doesn’t like. That means he will force financial institutions not to do business with these companies. Try running a company if you can’t find a financial institution that will handle your checks or the credit cards for your customers or establish lines of credit for you.
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Biden’s nominee to be the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, Sarah Bloom Raskin, has repeatedly urged regulators to force banks to defund America’s domestic oil and gas industry and other industries that she doesn’t like. In the position of Vice Chair, she would have the power to do just that. Two weeks ago Tester declared his support for Raskin, but Democrat Joe Manchin killed the nomination by opposing her.
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At the end of January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it would use its regulatory authority to scrutinize how credit rating agencies compile “environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)” evaluations of companies. Right at the top of these regulators list of “socially” irresponsible companies are gun makers and sellers. Companies with lower credit ratings would have to pay higher interest rates and higher business costs. Tester voted for Gary Gensler as Biden nominee to head the agency.
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But even putting aside the possible civil and criminal charges that these agencies can bring, no financial institution wants extra audits or investigations from regulators.
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Federal acquisition decisions are also going to use ESG ratings. For example, last fall, the Biden Labor Department stated that it “may often require an evaluation of the economic effects of climate change and other ESG factors on the particular investment or investment course of action” for workplace retirement plans —401(k)s and 403(b)s. This means that Biden could force retirement accounts to make “socially desirable” investments with lower rates of return.
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Biden wants to revive Obama’s Operation Chokepoint. Obama had government agencies warn the financial institutions they regulated that the government considered certain types of their customers “high risk,” such as those in the fossil fuels and firearms industries. Trump killed the program, and in one of the last executive actions of his administration, he tried to implement rules that would prevent Obama’s Operation Chokepoint from being implemented again. He wanted to prevent the federal government from discriminating against law-abiding companies producing legal products, but Biden killed the reform.
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One could debate whether we should have a natural gas or oil industry. But Biden can’t claim that he wants to reduce gas and heating oil prices while working to destroy production in the United States. Likewise, Biden can’t claim he supports the Second Amendment as he lets regulators put gun makers and sellers out of business. We can’t ignore that the people who benefit the most from owning guns are the most likely victims of violent crime – poor blacks in high-crime urban areas.
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So, Democrats destroy the businesses they don’t like. Should Republicans start discriminating against the companies that Democrats like?
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Put aside all the very anti-Second Amendment federal judges that Biden is nominating and Tester is consistently voting for. Biden’s regulators are the most direct immediate threat. Something to remember as the prices of gas and guns rise.
John R. Lott, Jr. “Tester is exactly right we shouldn’t be buying oil from Iran and Venezuela, but Biden’s nominees are destroying our domestic energy production,” The Missoulian, March 17, 2022.
Unlike our testimony on Constitutional Carry in states such as Texas, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Indiana state legislatures, the CPRC is often helping to educate people with research in other debates. One state that we have provided our research is Ohio.
I hope you know how much good you do with your research, analysis, and commentary on gun issues. You are the single best source anyone has for understanding how statistics are misused by the other side and helping all of us understand what the truth is. I’m not sure that BFA [Buckeye Firearms Association] or other serious organizations could mount the substantive and pragmatic arguments we present to lawmakers and the public if you didn’t have our back. Yes, the truth is out there, but you make it easy for us to see it and understand it.
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So thanks for all the work you do. . . ..
Dean Rieck
Executive Director
Buckeye Firearms Association
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed piece at Townhall.
Twice in thirty days, YouTube censored videos of mine on topics that I previously covered for Real Clear Investigations and Real Clear Politics. The video platform blocked me from posting anything for two weeks, and said that the ban would be permanent if another violation occurred in the next 90 days.
In January, a violation was issued after I posted a video on the problems with mail-in voting in Missoula County, Montana (“A River of Doubt Runs Through Mail Voting in Big Sky Country,” Real Clear Investigations, March 24, 2021). A recount of the mail-in ballot envelopes found that 4,592 (6.33%) of 72,491 mail-in ballots lacked envelopes. Without an officially printed envelope, registration information, voter signature, and postmark date, election officials cannot verify the vote’s legitimacy. It is against the law to count such votes.
My appearance on an America’s Voice news show also drew YouTube’s ire, this time for violating their community standards on “Elections misinformation policies.” The guidelines explain, “This currently applies to: Any past U.S. Presidential election.”
In fact, the video never directly discussed the presidential election and never said that Donald Trump won the election. Trump won Montana handily, so the results there were never in question. After an appeal, YouTube wrote back and said that it had carefully reviewed the video again, but still wouldn’t change its decision. The company did not respond to my arguments.
Another apparently offensive appearance came in February on Sebastian Gorka’s national radio show. That interview discussed President Biden’s nascent national gun registry, after the ATF revealed that it had created a searchable digital database of 866 million firearms purchases (including some 54 million in 2021 alone).
In this case, I was not in trouble for anything that Gorka or I said in the interview, but because Gorka supposedly violated community standards in other episodes. So, apparently, I am responsible for monitoring not just what I say or what others say in my presence, but also for what others say at other times.
In May 2020, YouTube flagged my eleven-second clip of a character in CBS’s Blue Bloods making the false claim that police commit suicides at high rates because they have “easy access to guns.” the clip was yet another example of the misleading information that television shows provide about guns. I accompanied the video with a post about academic research that shows there are no drops in overall suicide rates when guns are banned or when guns are required to be locked up.
Someone complained to YouTube about my post, but I never learned what the problem was. I was simply told, “It’s important to us that YouTube is a safe place for all.”
These aren’t the only run-ins I have had with social media censorship. Twitter twice censored a post of mine claiming that the 2019 New Zealand mosque shooter was “a socialist, environmentalist, who hates capitalists & free trade.” I also wrote that the killer believed his attack would “lead to more gun control” in New Zealand and the United States. Twitter didn’t bother to provide me with an explanation for why they locked my account for months. After I wrote about the incident in the New York Daily News, the Crime Prevention Research Center tweeted out a link to my article and its account was subsequently locked.
The most maddening thing is the frequent lack of clarity about the exact nature of the violations. I have now taken to also posting on Rumble, which doesn’t censor content, but it will take a while before I gain as many followers as I have on YouTube.
All this is happening at the same time that the social media giants are refusing to block the accounts of terrorists and invading governments.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. After my appeals to YouTube failed, I reached out to Grover Norquist, , an influential Washington, D.C. conservative and president of Americans for Tax Reform. His staff interceded with Google, YouTube’s parent company. After four days, Google removed all of the strikes on my account and reactivated it. “I would like to apologize again for the disruption our errors caused you,” a Google staffer wrote me.
While things eventually worked out, my accounts were closed for two-and-a-half weeks this year, I would have gotten nowhere if I didn’t know an influential person who had personal contacts. The problem is more fundamental. The staffers are intentionally censoring people they disagree with, and I doubt they got in any trouble for their “errors”. YouTube doesn’t respect free speech, and people are less informed because of it.
John R. Lott, Jr., “Social Media Censorship Particularly Hits Those Without Political Connections,” Townhall, March 16, 2022.
A new Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters conducted from March 3rd to 6th found 52% of voters say that it is likely that “cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Forty percent (40%) of voters thought that was unlikely. It is possible to break this down further, with 33% saying that such cheating was very likely, 19% saying that it was somewhat likely, 13% that it was somewhat unlikely, and 27% saying that it was very unlikely.
Given how much the news media has been claiming that there is no evidence of vote fraud, these results are surprising. Indeed, a broad range of people believe that there was significant vote fraud: men, women, all age groups, whites, those who are neither white nor black, Republicans, those who are neither Republicans nor Democrats, all income groups but those making over $200,000 per year, all education groups but those who went to graduate school, and all job categories.
Perhaps these people know what the intelligentsia refuses to look at, that there is a reason that virtually all the rest of the world requires voter photo-IDs or that most of the world bans absentee ballots, let alone the mail-in ballots. We have done a lot of other research shows that there was significant vote fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
As is usual in these polls, those who have the highest incomes and went to graduate school tend to agree the most with Democrats and liberals.
On Monday, March 14th, Dr. John Lott testified for 47 minutes before Connecticut’s Joint Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committee on several gun control bills (primarily SB 16, HB 5416, and HB 5397). A copy of Lott’s written testimony is available here.
Connecticut-Testimony-March-14-2022-RevisedDownload
Ohio today became the 23rd Constitutional Carry state, and with Georgia and Nebraska looking like sure things, there will soon be at least 25 Constitutional Carry states. It appears likely that the governor in Indiana will also sign the bill that passed his state legislature with overwhelming votes, but that is the one where there is the biggest question mark.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law Monday removing training, background check and permitting requirements to carry a concealed weapon in Ohio.
When the law takes effect in 90 days, all Ohioans aged 21 and older who are lawfully allowed to possess a weapon will be able to carry it concealed on their persons. Prior law required them to undergo eight hours of training, a background check, and an application through their local sheriff.
The enactment of “constitutional carry” or “permitless carry” marks a long-coveted win for the gun rights movement and firearms lobby, and a major loss for Democrats, anti-gun violence activists, police organizations and public health researchers who opposed it.
Ohio is now the 23nd state in the U.S. with a permitless carry law, according to a count from the U.S. Concealed Carry Association. Several states including Iowa, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming passed versions of the law in 2021. Alabama signed the legislation into law just last week.
Jake Zuckerman, “DeWine signs law removing training, background check, permitting requirement to conceal carry,” Ohio Capital Journal, March 14, 2022.
John Lott appeared on Missoula’s KGVO-AM for an hour-and-a-half for a broad range of questions from the economy to crime to Biden “debunking” companies in industries he doesn’t like. This recording is of the last hour that he was on the show.
(Friday, February 18, 2022, from 10:30 AM to noon ET)
Dr. John Lott appeared on Jim Bohannon’s national America in the Morning about his piece at Real Clear Politics titled: “Democrats Pushing Gun Registry as Precursor to Gun Ban.” They also talked about the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen case before the US Supreme Court.
(Friday, February 11, 2022)
The Nebraska state Senate needed 33 votes to overcome a filibuster, so they obtained two more than necessary. There are still two more votes that are necessary before the bill goes to the governor. Last year Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts promised to sign a Constitutional Carry bill if it gets to his desk. Georgia seeming like a sure thing (both the state House and Senate have passed similar bills, and the governor promising sign it). The legislatures of Ohio and Indiana already passed Constitutional Carry with overwhelming support, but the governors have to still sign off on them.
On Friday, a motion was called at 10:15 a.m. by Senator Matt Hansen to adjourn after there were heated words and accusations between several lawmakers. That motion was denied and debate continued. After a motion to end debate, and several others, a vote was taken. LB 773 advanced with a 35 – 9 vote.
Karla James, “Constitutional Carry Bill Advances In Nebraska Legislature,” KLIN radio, March 11, 2022.
With Virginia switching sides, there are now 27 states that back striking down New York’s May Issue requirements for concealed carry, and only 17 states and the District of Columbia that support keeping the “proper cause” requirement before permits are issued. A copy of Virginia’s letter to the Supreme Court is available here. A key passage of Virginia’s filing is here:
It is Virginia’s position that New York’s “proper cause” requirement unconstitutionally prevents individuals from exercising their fundamental Second Amendment right to bear arms outside the home. The Second Circuit below is just one of many courts that has been “resisting this Court’s decisions in Heller and McDonald and [is] failing to protect the Second Amendment to the same extent that they protect other constitutional rights.” Silvester v. Becerra, 138 S. Ct. 945, 950 (2018) (Thomas, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari). This Court should correct that trend. This is “not a close question”; the correct outcome “follows directly from Heller.”
Previously the Ohio state House and Senate had adopted slightly different versions of Constitutional Carry, and for a while, it looked like things were stalled with each wanting the other body to adopt their bill. But now the House is taking up the Senate bill. In addition, “Georgia lawmakers are expected to vote on the Constitutional Carry Bill sometime this week.“
Our past research on this topic is available here and one of our recent op-eds on it is available here.
On Tuesday, the House Government Oversight Committee reviewed Senate Bill 215, which would allow anyone 21 and up to carry without a permit so long as they lawfully possess the gun in question. Current law requires Ohioans to undergo eight hours of training and a background check to obtain a CCW permit.
Republicans in the House passed a near identical bill last year, rendering passage more likely than not. The committee passed it in an 8-5 party line vote. The full House passed it in a 60-32 party line vote. It’s up for another hearing Wednesday.
Should the House pass the legislation again (they passed the same language contained in a different bill last year), it would go to the desk of GOP Gov. Mike DeWine. The governor has declined to take a position on the bill in public statements but told the Buckeye Firearms Association in writing during the 2018 primary that he would support a constitutional carry bill.
Jake Zuckerman, “Concealed carry expansion bill nears final vote; other gun bills advance,” News 5 ABC Cleveland, February 9, 2022.
Dr. John Lott talked to Larry Conner on St. Louis’ KXEN to discuss the claim that violent crime is rising because of increased gun sales. They discussed Lott’s recent op-ed at Townhall titled: “As Gun Sales Soared, the Number of Violent Crimes Committed with Guns Plummeted.”
(Tuesday, January 25, 2022, from 3:40 to 4:00 PM)
In 2019, O’Rouke made news with his claim at a Democratic presidential debate that “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15.″ Yet, in his current run to be the governor of Texas, headlines are saying “Democratic candidate backpedals on guns.” He is now positioning himself as a candidate who will defend the Second Amendment.
Speaking to reporters, O’Rourke also took a question about his controversial stance on guns and remarks made in 2019 about taking away AR-15s and AK-47s.
“I’m not interested in taking anything from anyone. What I want to make sure that what we do is defend the Second Amendment,” he said.
Blake Holland, “Beto O’Rourke talks guns, energy jobs, and power grid plan during Tyler visit,” KSLA Channel 12, February 8, 2022.
The question is whether people believe anything that O’Rourke is now claiming his views are or whether he says what he thinks is necessary to win an election.
Dr. John Lott talked to Larry Marino on Los Angeles’ 870 AM about how well the media covers gun crime stories. From the radio station’s post:
We discuss President Biden’s claim that far too many weapons are falling into criminal hands implying the terrorist crime recently in Texas would not have happened if a background check took place and the sale of certain guns were made illegal. – Lott is calling on the media to ask what mass shooting would have been stopped by background checks? He says, terrorists don’t follow the law.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Rasmussen Reports has a new survey on support for stricter gun control laws. They interviewed 1,000 Americans from January 30-31, 2022 and the margin of error in the survey was +/-3%. By a 49%-to-42% margin, Americans opposed stricter gun control. This is slightly larger than a recent Quinnipiac University Poll from last November that found Americans oppose stricter gun control laws by a 49% to 45% margin.
Those groups who were clearly in favor of more regulations were blacks, Democrats, people earning more than $200,000 per year, and government workers. Those who clearly opposed more regulations were men; people aged 40 to 64; whites; Republicans and others; married; people who worked for private companies, retired and others; and investors.
The most interesting response was the cross-tabs for another question asked in the survey: Does the United States need stricter enforcement of existing gun control laws? While those who said that we need stricter enforcement were more likely to say that we need stricter laws (62%-to-31%), those who didn’t think that we needed stricter enforcement were strongly against having new laws (91%-to-7%). Those who oppose stricter gun control laws apparently don’t think that it is very useful to enforce the gun control laws that we have.
As the Crime Prevention Research Center has pointed out many, many times, television crime shows seem to think criminals are constantly using machine guns to commit crime. In real life, criminals generally use machine guns so rarely that a 2016 survey of prison inmates only broke down the numbers for uses in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey did not even mention fully automatic weapons. A similar finding is available from the FBI UCR report where 2.6% of all murders involve rifles of any type and 0.3% of all murders involve unspecified “other guns.” There is a reason for that. Since 1934, there was only one possible known use ever of a civilian using a machine gun in a murder. And even before 1934, they were very rare.
Here is another example from CBS’ S.W.A.T that again shows machine guns being used (Season 5, Episode 10, January 10, 2022). With criminals now even having rocket launchers, this is pushing the envelope to even a greater extreme.
More examples of this type of bias are available here.
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.
Shows from the current season.
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 9): E3, October 6, 2021
The Equalizer (Season 2): E1, Oct 10, 2021
CBS’s “FBI: Most Wanted” (Season 3) E1 September 28th, 2021 & E2 September 28th, 2021
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (Season 5) E1 October 1, 2021, E2, Oct 08, 2021, E7, December 3, 2021, E10, January 10, 2022.
CBS’s “FBI: International” (Season 1) E2, September 28th, 2021. In another “FBI: International” (S1 E1) criminals were shown carrying machine guns but not using them. E5, November 2, 2021.
From past seasons, here are some of the shows with criminals using machine guns (this is not meant to be a complete list):
ABC’s The Rookie (Season 3): Episode 11 April 18, 2021; Episode 12 April 25, 2021; Episode 14 May 9, 2021; Episode 3, January 17, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
CBS’s Bull (Season 5): E6, January 18 2021
CBS’s FBI Most Wanted (Season 2): E4 January 19, 2021, E5 January 26, 2021.
CBS’ Coyote (Season 1): E2 January 7, 2021 and E5 January 7, 2021
CBS’ SWAT (Season 4): E7 Jan 13, 2021, E8 January 27, 2021, E9 Feb 17 2021
CBS’s Blue Bloods (Season 11): Episode 16, May 14, 2021
CBS’ Magnum PI (Season 3): E3 Dec 11 2020; Episode 7, February 5, 2021
CBS’ The FBI (Season 3): E1 Nov 17 2020, E4 Jan 24, 2021
CBS’s NCIS LA (Season 12): Episode 8, January 10, 2021
NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime (Season 1): Episodes 1 & 2, April 1 and 8, 2021
NBC’s The Blacklist (Season 8): Episode 1, November 13, 2020
NBC’s Chicago PD (Season 8): Episode 7, February 17, 2021
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
In last years’ season (2019-2020), we haven’t been keeping close track, but other recent examples include:
CBS’ SWAT (Season 3): E11 January 15, 2020; E21 May 20, 2020
CBS’ FBI (Season 2): E12 January 14, 2020; Episode 18, March 24, 2020
Fox’s Deputy (Season 1): E1 January 2, 2020
FBI: Most Wanted (Season 1): Episode 4, January 28, 2020; Episode 6, February 18, 2020, Episode 9, March 24, 2020
Chicago PD (Season 7): Episode 10 January 8, 2020; Episode 16, March 4, 2020; Season 7, Episode 17, March 18, 2020; Episode 20, April 15 2020
Hawaii Five-O, Season 10, Episode 18, February 28, 2020; Episode 20, March 13, 2020; Episode 21, March 27, 2020
Magnum PI, Season 2, Episode 18, May 1, 2020
Blue Bloods, Season 10, Episode 19, May 1, 2020
The Blacklist, Season 7, Episode 18, May 8, 2020
Here is a list of shows from the 2018-19 television season that showed criminals using machine guns.
The Rookie (Season1): E2, E4, E9, E17, E20
Magnum PI (Season 1): E1, E15
Chicago P.D. (Season 6): E14
Other examples of television media bias on this particular point can be found here.
You know, the future is cut short by a man with a stolen Glock with 40 rounds — a magazine with 40 rounds. And it’s really a weapon of war.
One of the things I was proudest of years ago, when I was in the Senate — I was able to get these weapons and the size of magazines outlawed. That got changed. It got overruled. But I don’t see any rationale to why there should be such a weapon able to be purchased. It doesn’t violate anybody’s Second Amendment rights to deny that.
Joe Biden, “Remarks by President Biden at a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Meeting,” The White House, remarks at One Police Plaza, New York, New York, February 3, 2022.
Last July, Biden made a similar statement at a CNN Townhall.
Biden: “Actually, crime is down; gun violence and murder rates are up. Guns. I’m the only guy that ever got passed legislation when I was a senator, that made sure we eliminated assault weapons. The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon — whether it’s a — whether it’s a 9-millimeter pistol or whether it’s a rifle — is ridiculous. I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things, but I’m not likely to get that done in the near term.” (Wednesday, July 21, 2021)
CNN Townhall, Wednesday, July 21, 2021.
The media ignores that Biden has made similar statements before, such as at a high-dollar private fundraiser in Seattle in 2019: “Why should we allow people to have military-style weapons including pistols with 9-mm bullets and can hold 10 or more rounds?”
Even though Biden says: “whether it’s a 9-millimeter pistol or whether it’s a rifle — is ridiculous. I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things” and now “I don’t see any rationale to why there should be such a weapon able to be purchased,” left-wing fact-checkers at Politifact in the past claimed it is wrong to say that he wants to ban handguns. They said that: “The most popular handguns would face no restrictions under Biden’s policies.” They base that conclusion on the standard magazine that comes with those guns.
For example, the Sig Sauer P365 was ranked the most popular handgun in a 2020 survey of Alabama gun dealers. The NRA’s Shooting Illustrated Magazine named it the Handgun of the Year. The standard magazine for the P365 is 10 rounds, and depending on the model, the weapon can accommodate a 15-round magazine.
Jon Greenberg, “No, Joe Biden doesn’t want to ban handguns,” Politifact, July 22, 2021.
Take a look at the eleven most popular Glocks. None of them come with a standard magazine that can hold twenty bullets, let alone 40 rounds, though some have optional extended magazines that can hold up to 33 rounds. In any case, it is clear that Biden is talking about guns that are capable of holding larger magazines, and any semi-automatic handgun that can hold a magazine can hold one of virtually any size. The vast majority of handgun sales in the US are semi-auto handguns. Take a look at pistol sales in the US compared to revolver sales: In 2018, Pistols 3,881,158 and Revolvers 664,835. So the vast majority of handguns are pistols — 85.4% of all handguns.
- Glock 43 – standard magazine six rounds.
- Glock 42 – standard magazine six rounds.
- Glock 22 – standard magazine fifteen rounds. Optional up to 16 rounds.
- Glock 21 Gen 4 – standard magazine thirteen rounds.
- Glock 30 SF – standard magazine ten rounds. Optional up to 13 rounds.
- Glock 18 – standard magazine nineteen rounds. Optional up to 33 rounds.
- Glock 20 Gen 4 – standard magazine fifteen rounds.
- Glock 17 – standard magazine seventeen rounds. Optional up to 33 rounds.
- Glock 19 – standard magazine fifteen rounds. Optional up to 33 rounds.
- Glock 27 Gen 4 – standard magazine nine rounds. Optional up to 22 rounds.
- Glock 44 – standard magazine ten rounds.
But Politifact doesn’t understand that extended magazines can fit any semi-automatic gun that holds a magazine. Here are the extended magazines that are available for the Sig Sauer P365 that Politifact discusses — they hold 20, 30, and 50 rounds (the numbers that Biden mentions).
Dr. John Lott emailed Jon Greenberg, who wrote the Politifact piece, and Greenberg wrote back:
A handgun with a 10 or 12 round magazine wouldn’t be touched. If someone put a 20-round magazine on it, they would, I assume, be in violation. But not because of the handgun itself. Throw away the magazine, and the weapon is legal.
The problems with this claim are that: 1) This discussion is about banning guns that have “the ability” to fire that many rounds. He doesn’t talk about banning magazines, but guns that have the ability to fire that many rounds. As evidence of this point, it is clear that Biden wants to ban assault weapons that are rifles regardless of how many rounds that they hold, and he lumps those guns together with pistols: “9-millimeter pistol or whether it’s a rifle.” 2) ALL semi-automatic guns have “the ability” to fire 20 or more rounds.
While a ban has been the obvious goal of Biden’s gun control policies, no national Democrat has openly come out and said that he wants to ban most guns owned in the United States.
One wonders what would have happened if Biden had said this openly during the campaign. Instead, the media attacked Trump as lying when he warned about this danger.
In a piece that John Lott had in the Wall Street Journal Op-ed in October, 2020, he warned: “When President Trump introduced Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, he warned: ‘The coming years will decide the survival of our Second Amendment.’ He’s right.“
Biden is misleading about his claim that crime might be down. Property crime is down and property crime makes up most crime. But at least for the top 10 largest cities violent crime is up by 0.5%. People are primarily concerned about violent crime. Preliminary analysis indicates that murder is up 15.2% so far this year. Even if gun crimes rose by 15% faster than non-gun violent crime, that would still mean that less than 10% of violent crime involved guns. Based on the 2019 NCVS data, gun crime would have to increase 21% faster than total violent crime to get its share to rise above 10%.
This is not the first time that Politifact has come to Biden’s defense.
There is no mention of banning any type of traditional handgun on Biden’s presidential campaign website. Among other measures, his gun control policies include: Banning the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and initiating a buyback of these weapons; closing loopholes in the background check system and requiring checks on all gun sales; and ending the online sale of firearms and ammunitions.
Biden has voted on amendments to ban certain rifles, guns considered assault weapons and semi-automatic weapons. But he has no record of supporting measures that would ban traditional pistols.
We reached out to the NRA but did not receive a response.
We rate this False.
Samantha Putterman, “No, Joe Biden doesn’t want to ban 9 millimeter pistols,” Politifact, March 18, 2020.
Again, Biden said: “Why should we allow people to have military-style weapons including pistols with 9-mm bullets and can hold 10 or more rounds?” Note that Biden is saying that he wants to ban semi-automatic handguns that can hold 10 or more rounds, which is ALL handguns that can hold a magazine. The argument for Politifact is that people just don’t understand plain English. The only possibly excuse that Politifact’s leftwing writers is that they simply don’t know anything about guns.
Dr. John Lott talked to KXNT-AM’s Alan Stock about a piece that Lott had in the Washington Times titled: “Biden’s rhetoric implies there are virtually no Democratic countries.” Lott noted that if Biden really believes that those who want voter IDs are “anti-democratic” or “totalitarian,” then there are virtually no democratic countries.
(Monday, January 24, 2022, from 11:35 to 11:46 AM ET)
You will search in vain for civilians successfully using guns in self-defense in entertainment television shows. When civilians use guns defensively, something always goes wrong. Either they die using the gun, accidentally shoot the wrong person, or they get in the way of police trying to do their job. We regularly collect those cases, so when a television show finally shows a successful defensive gun use, we want to acknowledge it.
Paramount’s Yellowstone (Season 4, Episode 8, Dec 19, 2021) has John Dutton (played by Kevin Costner) and Rip Wheeler (played by Cole Hauser) arrive at a restaurant where a robbery is occurring. The Sheriff is one of the hostages in the restaurant. Dutton and Costner successfully stop the robbers, though the sheriff was fatally shot when he tried to shoot the robbers. This is the second time in one season that Yellowstone has shown a successful defensive gun use.
Yellowstone, Season 4, Episode 8, Dec 19, 2021
Here is a video on Hollywood’s bias against guns.