Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has accused the FBI, CDC and legacy media of intentionally hiding evidence that supports armed self-defense as an effective deterrent to mass shootings. Massie highlighted an article by Dr. John R. Lott Jr., which claims that federal agencies and major media outlets suppress data proving how often law-abiding citizens use firearms to prevent crime.
Dr. Lott’s article points to the CDC’s decision to remove statistics on defensive gun use from its website after a 2013 National Academies of Sciences report showed estimates ranging from 64,000 to 3 million defensive uses annually. The CDC reportedly took this action after pressure from a gun control group concerned that the data would be used to block gun control measures.
Lott also criticized the FBI’s broad definition of “active shooter” incidents, noting that it includes any public shooting, even if no one was killed. He argues that the agency’s reliance on Google searches for data collection skews the results, creating a bias against armed citizens.
According to the FBI, only 14 of 350 active shooter cases from 2014 to 2023 were stopped by armed civilians. However, Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center found a significantly higher number, with armed citizens stopping 180 of 515 incidents in the same period, excluding 27 cases where the shooter was neutralized before firing.
As debates over gun control heat up ahead of the election, Rep. Massie emphasizes that the Second Amendment’s purpose is to protect citizens’ right to defend themselves, and he urges the next president to remember this critical aspect of American freedom.
