There’s an implication here that ALL armed defensive uses would even be reported. Lott himself pointed out in previous works that in a grand majority of cases of defensive handgun use, a shot is never fired. It would be impossible to even guess at numbers of violent crimes stopped from brandishing alone given that a crime wasn’t committed in that instance.
This also assumes reporting to LE. If brandishing alone was sufficient to allow someone to flee, would reporting even be necessary? On the other hand, without that gun and the intent to use it, that individual may have been shot or, worse, killed.
FBI should stick to facts it CAN report on accurately, meaning that they shouldn’t be trying to report on defensive firearm use outside of reported incidents, and those statistics should be heavily disclaimed.
Taking it a step further, how many people are safer simply because of concealed carry laws? It’s incalculable.
The reason most defensive uses of firearms go unreported is because the police will attempt to make the defender into the bad guy and arrest and charge him/her with some bullsh!t charge.