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A recently released report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation credits armed citizens with saving lives. “Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016 and 2017” was released in April, and provides hard evidence that gun-grabbers who ridicule the efficacy of keeping and bearing arms are demonstrably agenda-driven liars.

“The FBI has designated 50 shootings in 2016 and 2017 as active shooter incidents,” the report summarizes. “Twenty incidents occurred in 2016, while 30 incidents occurred in 2017.

“The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area,” the report continues. “Implicit in this definition is the shooter’s use of one or more firearms. The active aspect of the definition inherently implies that both law enforcement personnel and citizens have the potential to affect the outcome of the event based upon their responses to the situation. “

And how have citizens “affected the outcome”?

“Eight shooters were stopped by citizens,” the report documents, up from six credited in a 2014/2015 report:

“In four incidents, citizens possessing valid firearms permits successfully stopped the shooter. In two incidents, citizens exchanged gunfire with the shooter. In two incidents, the citizens held the shooter at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived. In one incident, a citizen possessing a valid firearms permit exchanged gunfire with the shooter, causing the shooter to flee to another scene and continue shooting. In one incident, a citizen possessing a valid firearms permit was wounded before he could fire at the shooter.”

That’s a pretty good record, especially considering how the doctrinaire gun-grabbers scoff at the idea, say it never happens, and claim “untrained” people would either end up getting killed or killing innocents themselves.

It also belies charges that gun owners are violent and bloodthirsty, just looking for an excuse to kill someone. The reported incidents reflect appropriate actions and judgment, and while it’s true that one citizen was wounded, no one has ever claimed having a gun makes someone invincible – what it can do (and based on results does) is offer a better chance than being defenseless and helpless.

What the report does not do is specify which locations where armed citizens did not help stop a shooter were so-called “gun-free zones.” We can make educated guesses about some of the incidents, such as school shootings, but as presented it’s difficult to extrapolate on lives that could have been saved had an armed presence been encouraged rather than forbidden by ignorance and/or law.

As things stand, there’s no reason to doubt the potential for more saves, and it’s up to anyone who disputes that to produce proof that the FBI is wrong when it acknowledges:

“Armed and unarmed citizens engaged the shooter in 10 incidents. They safely and successfully ended the shootings in eight of those incidents. Their selfless actions likely saved many lives.”

There is, however, one major flaw in the report that defenders of gun owner rights should be sensitive to. Jeff Knox, director of The Firearms Coalition advocates that using the term “active shooter” to describe scumbag murderers is wrong and ought to be reclaimed by the real – and peaceable – active shooters.

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David Codrea’s opinions are his own. See “Who speaks for Oath Keepers?”