Posted on 04/10/2025 7:17:21 AM PDT by marktwain
New research from the College of William and Mary and the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) shows armed civilians are more effective than police at stopping active shooting attacks on the public. Armed civilians are more likely to stop the attacks without being injured or killed. Armed civilians stop more attacks than do police. Police in the United States stop almost as many attacks as are stopped by armed civilians.
For decades, Second Amendment advocates have considered it to be common sense that armed civilians would be more effective at stopping active shooter attacks on the public than police. To people familiar with firearms, shooting, and defensive tactics, who thoughtfully considered active shooting attacks on the public, such outcomes seemed obvious. Those without such a background sometimes considered the opposite to be true. Such persons would cite a lack of training, lower skill levels, and a general distrust of the ability of non-police to make good decisions in such fast-moving crisis situations.
The paper was published on April 3, 2025, by authors John R. Lott, Jr. and Carlisle E. Moody. From 2014 through 2023, using FBI data and a number of other public sources, researchers were able to identify 512 active shooter incidents that conformed to the FBI definition. Of the 512 incidents, 158 were stopped by police, and 179 were stopped by armed citizens. There were 177 where the shooter stopped or was stopped without intervention by armed civilians or police. These cases include incidents where the attacker committed suicide before police arrived, was subdued by unarmed people, was not apprehended, or was arrested in a different location. About 8% of adults have concealed carry permits, while about 7.2% of likely voters self-report they carry firearms all of the time, and another 8.4% of voters self-report
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
“People who have decided to carry for the defense of themselves and others have strong incentives to develop marksmanship skills and to study defensive situations and tactics. This correspondent and numerous others have noted many armed civilians have skills that exceed that of the average police officer. Many armed civilians have experience as former police and military. Having taught hundreds of students in concealed carry classes, this correspondent believes people who carry firearms for their own defense and that of others tend to be of higher intelligence, income levels, and education levels.”
This is an important insight from the study into why we do better than cops at stopping public threats.
Agreed, but capacity isn’t the main reason. Having a redundant feed system in case your initial magazine fails is the biggest reason. Magazines do fail occasionally. A quick reload and you are back in business.
I agree. Treating magazine parts with a drying silicone spray will do wonders for magazine functioning. This is what I use:
I remove the magazine base plate and disassemble. Then I spray down the Follower, Spring and inside surfaces of the magazine and let it dry before reassembling. The increase in ease of loading the mag is amazing. The mag feeding is likely improved by the same amount. I have never had to treat a mag more than once.
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