Hollywood and politicians often portray civilians with guns as reckless and dangerous, but (as we all know) reality tells a different story.
Countless TV shows and movies show “good guys with guns” failing to stop crimes. The media and liberal politicians seem to echo the same sentiment: civilians with guns only make situations worse.
But what about real-life cases?
Veteran journalist John Stossel admits he used to believe this narrative, growing up around “lefty gun haters.” However, after 17 years of research, he began to see the data in a different light.
With the help of criminal justice researcher John Lott, who wrote More Guns, Less Crime, Stossel now recognizes armed civilians can deter crime.
In places where criminals know civilians might be armed, crime tends to drop, Lott’s research shows. Just the sight of a gun can be enough to stop an attack.
One striking example involved a woman in Atlanta who scared off robbers by pulling out her gun. The robbers ran, and the crime was averted.
Incidents like these often don’t make headlines, but they’re happening more often than the general public thinks. Bystanders, in many cases, successfully stop crimes when they use a firearm to defend themselves or others (GunsAmerica highlights at least one story every week!).
So why do TV shows and movies continue to push the idea that “a good guy with a gun” can’t stop crime?
It turns out, anti-gun groups have been working with Hollywood. These groups proudly boast about their “partnership with Hollywood” and influence over scripts.
The FBI, too, plays a part in downplaying these successful self-defense stories. They claim that armed civilians rarely stop shootings. However, their data doesn’t include many cases where they actually do.
One clear example occurred right after the Pulse nightclub shooting. It happened in South Carolina, just a week later, and it ended very differently when a civilian shot the gunman. That incident received hardly any national coverage.
There was also an incident in Titusville, Florida, where a man fired a gun near a school event. A concealed carry holder shot him before anyone was killed. The local media covered it, but it didn’t make national news, and once again, the FBI missed the case.
Stossel points out that many successful self-defense stories, like those listed by CrimeResearch.Org, go unnoticed.
One chilling example involved Raul Mendez, who was shot in the head at a party but still managed to stop the attacker by shooting him. Mendez believes he saved a dozen lives that day, including his own family’s.
Yet, the FBI didn’t record his case either. Stossel correctly asserts that political bias plays a role, with some people in the FBI hesitant to report data that doesn’t fit the anti-gun narrative.
In response to Stossel’s questioning, the FBI stated that their data is “not intended to explore all active shooter incidents.” Essentially, they admit their data is incomplete, but you wouldn’t know that from watching the news.
Despite the media’s insistence that civilian self-defense with guns is rare, the facts show otherwise. Gun bans may sound appealing to the uninformed, but they mostly disarm law-abiding citizens, not criminals. In places where guns are banned, murder rates tend to rise.
At the end of the day, armed civilians are stopping crimes more often than we’re led to believe. While you and I know that, please share the Stossel video with someone who doesn’t!
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