If There's Anyone That Deserves a Military Parade, It's Donald J. Trump
Can We Pay Liberals to Leave Too?
Young Trumpian Conservatives Are Like the Young Reagan Conservatives of Yesterday
Price Controls for Medicine Have a Devastating Cost
'Trump Knows…' Eclipses the Iconic Bo Jackson Commercial 'Bo Knows…'
Can the West Win Wars Again?
Securing Digital Dignity: A New Line of Defense for Americans
Ignore the Elites — President Trump’s Housing Plan Is Working
From the Gridiron to the Rose Garden — America’s Comeback Starts Here
Small Businesses Aren’t Hiring - Because Big Cronyism Is Eliminating Them
WNBA Player Bows to Woke Agenda, Cries 'White Privilege' Despite Being No. 1...
Pete Buttigieg Said What About Black Babies?
Trump Admin Ends Biden’s Free Ride, Restarts Student Loan Collections for Millions in...
Catholic Charter School Case Based on Religious Liberty, Oklahoma Education Official Says
CNN Slammed for Sympathizing With Gang Member in Bizarre Interview Questioning Trump’s 'Te...
OPINION

Good Guys with Guns

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Do you carry a gun?

Bad idea, says Hollywood. Civilians with guns are fools. You are more likely to hurt yourself than the bad guy.

"Leave it to a good guy with a gun to really screw things up," says a cop on ABC's "The Rookie."

Advertisement

Liberal politicians agree.

"A good guy with a gun will stop bad guys with a gun?! It doesn't hold up," smiles New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

"An adolescent rescue fantasy," adds an "expert" on CBS.

Now, I'm not a gun person. I was raised among lefty gun haters. I assumed Hollywood and "experts" were right.

When I saw economist John Lott's book, "More Guns, Less Crime," I rolled my eyes. But now I understand that Lott makes a good point.

"A couple million times a year, people use guns defensively," he says in my new video. "When a civilian tries to stop one of these instances, they're overwhelmingly successful."

But FBI reports say self-defense with guns is rare.

"They're simply missing a huge number of cases," says Lott. He's posted a list of cases the FBI ignored, where civilians stopped shooters.

The FBI lists the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. Forty-nine people were killed.

"One week afterwards," says Lott, "there was a similar attack at a nightclub in South Carolina."

But there, a civilian shot the attacker.

"Still had 125 rounds of ammunition on him when he was stopped!" says Lott.

Somehow, the FBI missed that case, along with so many others.

When 17 people were killed at Parkland, Florida, that got lots of news coverage.

Advertisement

Few people know that "just a few months later in Titusville, Florida, (at) an elementary school," says Lott, "a man came up, started firing his gun. Fortunately, a hot dog vendor (with a) concealed handgun was able to wound the attacker and stop him before he was able to kill."

"Stepped in and saved a lot of people's lives," said a local police officer.

But the FBI somehow missed that, too ...

Lott's list of ignored cases includes the story of Raul Mendez, who was at a party when a guest opened fire.

"Bullet enters right by my ear, goes straight through my face and out my left eye ... Blind from one eye and covered in blood, I unloaded four rounds and finished him off."

Mendez probably saved the lives of a dozen people at that party.

I tell him, "The FBI records instances like this, but somehow they have no record of your case."

"They're not recording the true numbers," Mendez replies.

I ask Lott why.

"There's a lot of political views that infect their data," he says. "I had interactions with the people in the FBI ... I had people tell me, 'Well, I'm a Democrat.'"

I push back. "The FBI, who carry guns, are anti-gun? It's not believable."

"They think that it would go against the narrative that they want to push," answered Lott.

Advertisement

Stossel TV asked the FBI why they don't include self-defense cases like Mendez'. They replied that their data is: "not intended to explore all facets of active shooter incidents."

Too bad politicians and the media don't realize that.

"It'd be great if we could just make all guns disappear," says Lott. "But when you ban guns, it's basically the most law-abiding good citizens who obey. Every place in the world that's banned all guns or all handguns has seen murder rates go up."

So-called experts like a psychiatrist featured on Detroit's CBS station confidently say, "There haven't been good guys with a gun who stop mass shootings. It's the kind of thing you learn reading comic books!"

Mendez replies: "I was prepared, and it saved lives. There's no comic book story about that. Those are facts. That's what happened. I was there. I'm sure there's many more out there that go unheard."

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement