Lott Expounds on FBI Politicized Resistance to Data Sharing

AmmoLand ^ | June 16, 2023 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

At the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta in 2025, noted researcher and author John Lott gave several seminars. They included three seminars on “Gun Control Myths”, a seminar on “Hollywood’s Bias Against Guns”, and two seminars on “The FBI Crime Data is Politicized and a Mess”.  This correspondent considers John a colleague and a friend and has read and studied John’s academic work for decades.

When attending the seminar on The FBI Crime Data is Politicized and a Mess on Sunday, April 27th, much of the material was familiar. Some material was unfamiliar. This correspondent accepted that the FBI had refused to cooperate by withholding data when John was part of the first Trump administration in 2020. The resistance was much more extensive than previously understood. A voice recording of John’s presentation is available at Crimeresearch.org.

Lott found significant anomalies in the way the FBI handles “active shooter” data.  John and the Crime Reduction Research Center have shown that many “active shooter” incidents are missing or mischaracterized in FBI data.

In the National Instant background Check System (NICS) data, it appears most of the denials are false positives. Hard data on the errors found in the NICS system is not available.  John has pointed out there are very few prosecutions of people who have been denied by the NICS system compared to the number of those denied. John stated that NICS denials are often based on the phonetic spelling of the last name. The denials are not done with high levels of certainty. Because many people in the same ethnic group have similar sounding names, and because Blacks and Hispanics have much higher rates of felony convictions than Whites or Asians, it is likely Black and Hispanic people are denied from purchasing firearms in the NICS

[marktwain]

The FBI actively resisted access to NICS data about the number of people turned down by race and sex. They denied an access request by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. They said they could not understand why anyone would want to look at the data!

[Carry_Okie]

Delusional people interpret (”realize”) and therefore data according to their beliefs. It is the reason the left can cite that data creating a bogus impression with a straight face, having no concept for what that data actually says.

Do you think this is a matter of how the data are perceived and recorded or is it a matter of recording it in order to deliberately mislead?

[PsyCon]

This is yet another area for the new FBI leadership to address and correct. John’s research is impressive and his organization is worth supporting (yes, we are contributors .)

https://crimeresearch.org/2025/05/political-biases-in-the-fbis-crime-data/

Also recommend getting a copy of Executive Director Nikki Goeser’s book, Stalked & Defenseless.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1709192208/?bestFormat=true&k=stalked%20and%20defenseless&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-ww_de_k0_1_23

[marktwain]

The data is not available to researchers or to the public.

There is a reason the FBI refuses to allow other governmental agencies to see the data.

The claim of the FBI is: they cannot conceive of any reason anyone would want to look at the data.

[TheDon]

John responded: “You guys break down everything by race and sex. What’s the big deal with this?”

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.

[Carry_Okie]

The claim of the FBI is: they cannot conceive of any reason anyone would want to look at the data.

That makes sense to me. They know, unconsciously, that the data will make them uncomfortable with their suppositions intact. So they don't make any analytical effort to interpret it and deem it "useless" in order to sustain their indoctrinated thesis.

It's a deep psychological problem common to anyone who operates from beliefs rather than from a passion for pursuit of truth no matter where it leads knowing that no matter what, there always will be surprises along the way because we are all ignorant to a degree. Humility yields truth.

[TheDon]

Although I’ve known of John’s work some time, I wasn’t aware of his time in the previous Trump administration. I appreciate the account of the FBI stonewalling regarding the NICS data. Amazing. People should be held to account for such nonsense.

[MtnClimber]

Thanks for writing and posting this. I am a huge John Lott fan.

[MileHi]

Now would be a good time to ask for the data again.