FBI Report: Legally Armed Citizens Stopped 8% Of Active Shooters In 2016/2017 - Including All In Houses of Worship

More Could Have Been Stopped But For "Gun Free Zones"

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The anti-gun rights movement constantly denies that legally armed citizens ever stop active shooters.  Now the FBI has confirmed what gun rights activists already knew: Legally armed citizens do stop active shooters and the mainstream media and gun control groups have been deceiving the public about it for many years.

On page 5 of the report, the following appears:

■ In four incidents, citizens possessing valid firearms permits successfully stopped the shooter. In two incidents, citizens exchanged gunfire with the shooter. In two incidents, the citizens held the shooter at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived.

■ In one incident, a citizen possessing a valid firearms permit exchanged gunfire with the shooter, causing the shooter to flee to another scene and continue shooting.

■ In one incident, a citizen possessing a valid firearms permit was wounded before he could fire at the shooter.

On page 7 the report states

Two of the 50 incidents occurred in houses of worship, resulting in 27 killed and 27 wounded.

■ Citizens (two possessing valid firearms permit) confronted the shooters in both incidents, neutralizing the threat. One shooter was apprehended by law enforcement; the other committed suicide.  

Armed citizens would likely have stopped more of these incidents if there were fewer (or no) so called "gun free zones"

On Page 1 of the report, the FBI defines 'active shooter" for the purposes of the study:

"As with past FBI active shooter-related publications, this report does not encompass all gun-related situations. Rather, it focuses on a specific type of shooting situation. The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.  Implicit in this definition is the shooter’s use of one or more firearms. The active aspect of the definition inherently implies that both law enforcement personnel and citizens have the potential to affect the outcome of the event based upon their responses to the situation."

This definition includes private homes.  (2 of 50 incidents.)  Using a definition that is very similar to the above (omitting incidents in private homes) Dr. John Lott found that nearly all public mass shootings (active shooter incidents with 4+ people shot) happened in areas where lawfully armed citizens may not carry.

Therefore, it is certain that if  "phony gun free zones" (secured with nothing more than signs) were eliminated, lives would be saved.  A law that required locations open to the public to either allow lawful carry - or to provide actual security to keep guns out - would certainly save hundreds of lives every year.