Study: FBI Undercounts How Often Armed Citizens Stop Shooters
New research from the Crime Prevention Research Center argues that armed citizens stop far more active-shooter attacks than FBI statistics suggest, raising questions about how defensive gun use gets counted in official data.
Snapshot
The CPRC examined active-shooter incidents from 2014 through 2025 and found armed civilians stopped 36.6% of them, compared with the 3.9% credited to civilians in FBI reporting. CPRC President Dr. John Lott, writing in National Review, says the gap comes from incidents the FBI omitted or misclassified rather than from differing opinions about the same cases.
Key points
- The numbers diverge sharply. The FBI identified 408 active-shooter incidents and credited civilians with stopping 16; the CPRC identified 615 incidents with 225 stopped by armed citizens.
- Classification matters. The CPRC cites the 2019 West Freeway Church of Christ shooting and the 2025 CrossPointe Community Church attack, where armed volunteer church members intervened but were labeled "security personnel" rather than ordinary armed citizens.
- Carry-friendly locations show higher rates. Limited to places where citizens may legally carry, the CPRC found armed civilians stopped 52.9% of incidents overall, and 56.3% in the most recent five years.
- Greenwood Mall isn't an outlier. The CPRC points to the 2022 Greenwood Park Mall attack, where a 22-year-old legally armed bystander returned fire within 15 seconds, as representative of a broader pattern rather than an exception.
- The FBI acknowledges gaps. The bureau has said its data offer a baseline rather than an exhaustive count, per the article.
Quick take
For Gun Gravy readers, this isn't a debate over the right to carry — it's a debate over whether the public is getting an accurate count of how often that right is exercised defensively. The CPRC's research, with its published incident list, gives readers a way to check the claims themselves rather than take either side's numbers on faith.
Read the full story: ammoland.com