A report from RealClearPolitics shed light on this pervasive issue.
An example from just last year arose when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) succumbed to a special interest group. For years the CDC cited a 2013 study from the National Academies of Sciences showing that defensive gun uses to stop crimes annually totaled from 64,000 to 3 million.
The agency listed the higher number on its website as 2.5 million. But that was then.
Gun Violence Archive head Mark Bryant contacted CDC leaders in 2022 complaining that the 2.5 million number was instrumental in defeating gun control measures. That’s all it took.
The agency removed the data from its website, and it is no longer available.
Likewise, the FBI may also be swayed by pressure to show a certain outcome. The RealClearPolitics report cited FBI numbers that asserted armed citizens stopped only 14 of 302 active shooter incidents from 2014-2022.
The report, however, listed the correct rate as nearly eight times higher. If the data were limited only to areas where concealed carry is allowed, it would jump to 11 times higher.
Researchers due to a lack of police department data are forced to sift through news reports to find active shooter incidents. But the numbers are subject to interpretation.
The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) publishes what it believes are more accurate reports on instances of armed civilians interceding in active shooter incidents. Unfortunately, the national media relies almost exclusively on FBI data when it claims citizens rarely use firearms to halt potentially tragic incidents.
CPRC President John R. Lott Jr. showed the truth is much more compelling. Using methodology that showed there were in fact 440 active shooter incidents from 2014-2022, his data proved an armed citizen stopped an incredible 157.
Thus, instead of the 4.6% intercession rate quoted by the FBI, the actual number according to CPRC data is 35.7%.
A remarkable difference.
