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After combing through the records, CPRC found 561 incidents in the same time period—202 of which were stopped by armed citizens. That’s not 3.7%. That’s 36%.
And it gets even more devastating for the anti-gun lobby. Remove the so-called “gun-free zones”—places where law-abiding citizens are prohibited from carrying—and the number skyrockets to 52.5%.
More than half the time, ordinary Americans with firearms are stopping killers before the body count rises.
So how did the FBI’s “official data” come out so wildly different? Simple—they manipulated the categories.
CPRC found case after case where the Bureau labeled everyday citizens as “security guards” despite having no professional training.
Take the 2019 church shooting in White Settlement, Texas. A parishioner shot the gunman before he could murder dozens more. But the FBI? They listed him as a “security guard.”
The Bureau also ignored cases where shooters fled after being confronted by an armed civilian. In the FBI’s twisted logic, if the bad guy ran away, that didn’t count as being stopped.
They even threw out incidents they claimed were “domestic disputes” or “retaliation murders,” conveniently leaving out the role of armed civilians in halting the attacks.
This wasn’t sloppy bookkeeping. This was intentional.
And of course, the corporate press played right along.
When twenty-two-year-old Elisjsha Dicken stopped a mass shooter at the Greenwood, Indiana mall in 2022—saving what experts say could have been dozens of lives—legacy outlets like Reuters and CNN were quick to downplay his heroism. Instead, they rushed to repeat the FBI’s line that such events are “rare.”
CPRC President John Lott nailed it when he said:
“Of course, law-abiding citizens stopping these attacks are not rare. What is rare is not citizens stopping these attacks—it’s the national news covering it.”
He’s right. The media ignores reality because it doesn’t fit their storyline: government saves lives, citizens don’t.
This scandal is bigger than numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about the federal government and its media allies deliberately misleading Americans about their God-given rights.
Former Justice Department official Theo Wold put it bluntly:
“The cascading effect is incredibly deleterious. When the Bureau gets it so systematically wrong, it shapes the entire national debate.”
And that’s exactly what has been happening. A shooting occurs, politicians drag out the FBI’s cooked data, and suddenly Democrats have the justification they need for more gun-free zones, more restrictions, more attacks on the Second Amendment.
But the truth is undeniable. When allowed to carry, armed citizens successfully stop mass shooters over half the time. These aren’t police officers or federal agents—these are churchgoers, shoppers, moms, dads, and neighbors stepping up when seconds matter.
And Americans know it. A 2022 Trafalgar Group poll revealed that 42% of voters believe armed citizens are the best defense against mass shootings, compared to just 25% who put their faith in local police.
That’s nearly a 2-to-1 margin in favor of citizen self-defense over waiting for government help.
Meanwhile, the FBI refuses to explain their manipulation of the numbers. The same Bureau that never hesitates to issue a statement on politically charged cases suddenly goes silent when caught red-handed.
Maybe they’re too busy preparing next year’s “statistics” to prop up the left’s failing narrative.
