The 'Good Guys With Guns' the FBI Stats Omit

Barely concealed carry: Charles Blain, a post-pandemic Glock owner in Houston due to rising crime.

By John R. Lott Jr., RealClearInvestigations
August 10, 2022

Instances in which armed civilians thwart active shooters are not nearly as rare as the FBI and news outlets that use their numbers suggest.

Official FBI statistics report that only 4.5% of such incidents (11 of the 252) were stopped by armed civilians during the period 2014-2021. An analysis by the organization I lead, the Crime Prevention Research Center, found armed civilians had stopped 14.6% of such attacks (41 of 281).

Main Story: How FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers

The discrepancy is explained by the fact that because law enforcement agencies do not compile and submit comprehensive active shooter reports to the Bureau, the statistics are largely based on reviews of news and other reports regarding such incidents. As a result, many cases are missed or misclassified. In addition to misclassifying five incidents involving armed civilians, the FBI reports did not include these 25 incidents identified by the CPRC.

Location	Date	Detail
Portland, Oregon	January 11, 2014	A gunman opened fire and shot three people inside the Mystic Gentleman's Club. A man with a valid Oregon concealed handgun permit followed the gunman outside and fatally shot him. The night club’s owner called the man a “hero” for saving the lives of others.
Chicago	July 7, 2014	A Gresham man fired on a group of people leaving a party, only to be shot himself by one of the victims, a military service member with a concealed carry permit.
Philadelphia	March 22, 2015	A 40-year-old man started firing at people in a barber shop, customers and barbers alike. A man with a concealed handgun permit was walking by the shop and entered when he heard the shots. The permit holder shot the attacker once in the chest. "He responded and I guess he saved a lot of people in there," said Philadelphia Police Captain Frank Llewellyn.
New Holland, Wisconsin	May 5, 2015	Two firefighters with concealed carry permits stopped a man allegedly attempting to shoot toward the crowded fire station parking lot, which was full of children and firefighters.
Conyers, Georgia	May 31, 2015	A customer fired back at a suspect who killed two people in a Ga. Highway 20 liquor store. “I believe that if Mr. Scott did not return fire at the suspect, then more of those customers would have [been] hit by a gun,” said Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett. “It didn’t appear that he cared who he shot or where he was shooting until someone was shooting back at him. So, in my opinion, he saved other lives in that store.”
Winton, Ohio	July 26, 2015	During a dispute on the street, the shooter  fired at four people, including a 1-year-old boy. Because of a permit holder's quick actions, no one was seriously injured.
Lyman, South Carolina	June 30, 2016	A 32-year-old male started shooting at a nightclub in South Carolina. Before the attacker could shoot a fourth person, a permit holder shot back, wounding the attacker in the leg. “At least one South Carolina sheriff credit[ed] a man with a concealed carry permit with preventing further violence at a nightclub.”
Arlington, Texas	May 3, 2017	A concealed carry holder was heralded as a “hero” by Arlington police for preventing mass murder by killing an “incoherent” gunman at a bar.
San Antonio, Texas	December 7, 2017	A man with a gun inside a Popeye’s restaurant threatened a family with a gun before the father shot him dead. Police stated that the permit holder saved at least several lives. The FBI might not have included this case because it could have been part of a robbery.
Tumwater, Washington	June 18, 2018	The attacker who opened fired inside a Walmart and then shot a motorist in the parking lot was stopped when a concealed handgun permit holder chased and killed the man.
Titusville, Florida	August 4, 2018	A back-to-school event for children and their families experienced a shooting that was quickly stopped by a concealed handgun permit holder. “He’s a hero,” Titusville Police Sgt. Bill Amos said. “This park was filled with families and children and, at that time, it was an active shooter situation for him and he was trained enough to deal with it and he did.”
Birmingham, Alabama	October 27, 2018	A masked man entered a McDonald’s restaurant and immediately started firing his gun. It appeared that his intent was to kill or wound as many people as possible. A concealed handgun permit holder returned fire, killing the attacker.
Colonial Heights, Tennessee	February 13, 2019	After a killer fatally shot his wife he turned his gun on others in a dental office where she worked. A patient who had a concealed handgun permit shot the murderer as he was aiming at another person.
Newnan, Georgia	August 13, 2019	Deputies in Coweta County say that an armed, off-duty employee may have stopped a mass shooting at a crowded bar in Newnan a Saturday morning.
Duncan, Oklahoma	November 18, 2019	After killing two people in a parking lot, “The shooter shot himself after a bystander confronted him with a firearm.”
Kwethluk, Alaska	May 16, 2020	A 19-year-old man was arrested after he broke into the Kwethluk public safety building in Southwest Alaska, armed himself with multiple rifles, pulled the fire alarm, and fired on a responding village police officer. The attacker brought multiple guns and a bullet-resistant vest and helmet. The attacker was charged with four counts of attempted murder.
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania	July 10, 2020	A 55-year-old man gunned down his ex-wife and her date in the parking lot of a central Pennsylvania restaurant. A restaurant customer, who was licensed to carry a firearm, shot and wounded the shooter as he walked back to his pickup truck.
Brownsburg, Indiana	July 14, 2020	A 22-year-old man launched an unprovoked attack against two men working in Brownsburg Cemetery. Fortunately, one of the people wounded in this shooting had a permitted concealed handgun. He was able to get out of his car and shoot the attacker.
Dallas	July 25, 2020	Three men were shot and a woman was hit by shrapnel when someone opened fire outside a sports bar in North Oak Cliff on a Saturday night. The gunman was not allowed in due to COVID-19 restrictions. The shooter went to the back of the sports bar, where he exchanged gunfire with armed patrons.
Weslaco, Texas	August 17, 2020	A man upset because of a medical condition was planning to shoot people at a Weslaco, Texas Walmart. The man was “very upset” because his plans were stopped by an armed citizen.
Chicago	July 4, 2021	A Chicago man allegedly shot and killed a woman and wounded two men at a gathering on July 4 after being asked to stop firing a gun into the air while children played. A witness with a concealed carry permit fired back, striking the shooter in the hip and arm. It seems likely that if the concealed handgun permit holder hadn’t intervened in this case there would have been at least three deaths instead of just the one woman.
Fort Myers, Florida	July 22, 2021	A convicted felon in illegal possession of a gun fired multiple shots into a crowd before a bystander returned fire. When the bystander confronted the attacker, he stopped attacking and “threw his gun in a parking lot.” Fortunately, no one was injured.
San Antonio, Texas	August 11, 2021	A woman who crashed into a parked car in San Antonio’s West Side neighborhood climbed out of her vehicle and began shooting indiscriminately at people who came out of their homes to rush to her aid. An armed resident fired back and shot the driver to death.
Syracuse, New York	August 31, 2021	A property manager pulled out a legally-possessed 9mm handgun and fatally wounded a man who opened fire on a crowd outside a building. The district attorney credited the property manager with saving the lives of several individuals.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania	October 17, 2021	Four people were injured after a fight between two teenagers at Lancaster’s Park City Center Mall escalated into a shooting. A 16-year-old who was illegally carrying a gun started the shooting. But it could have been much worse were it not for a concealed handgun permit holder who intervened and shot one of the participants.