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How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers—and Media Play Along

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How the FBI Undercounts Armed Citizen Responders to Mass Killers—and Media Play Along
Teddy bears and flowers are sit as a memorial outside of the Greenwood Park Mall food court, in Greenwood, Ind., on July 18, 2022. Jon Cherry/Getty Images
John R. Lott Jr.
RealClearInvestigations
By John R. Lott Jr. and RealClearInvestigations
8/12/2022Updated: 8/12/2022

The shooting that killed three people and injured another at a Greenwood, Indiana, mall on July 17 drew broad national attention because of how it ended—when 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, carrying a licensed handgun, fatally shot the attacker.

While Dicken was praised for his courage and skill—squeezing off his first shot 15 seconds after the attack began, from a distance of 40 yards—much of the news coverage drew from FBI-approved statistics to assert that armed citizens almost never stop such attackers: “Rare in US for an active shooter to be stopped by bystander” (Associated Press); “Rampage in Indiana a rare instance of armed civilian ending mass shooting” (Washington Post); and “After Indiana mall shooting, one hero but no lasting solution to gun violence” (New York Times).
John R. Lott Jr. is the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and the author of “Gun Control Myths” (2020), “Dumbing Down the Courts,” and “Freedomnomics.”
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Related Topics
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mass shootings
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