Posted on 09/11/2026 6:51:26 AM PDT by MtnClimber
CDC Undercounts Defensive Gun Uses COMMENTARY By John R. Lott Jr.September 11, 2026 CDC Undercounts Defensive Gun UsesAP Whoever controls crime data can shape the political debate. The Trump administration has already reversed some of the changes the Biden administration made to federal crime and gun data, including information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But politicization of data at the FBI and Justice Department still deserves attention.
Gun-control activists have long tried to “debunk” what they call the “good guy with a gun myth” as they push for stricter gun-control laws. The federal government and much of the media have reinforced that argument by downplaying evidence that armed, law-abiding citizens stop public attacks.
Even the most dramatic defensive gun uses rarely get national news coverage. One rare example of news coverage was in August of this year, when Jordan Salinas shot at a gunman who was shooting at vehicles outside a Twin Falls, Idaho, In-N-Out fast-food burger restaurant. As one news story noted, Twin Falls County Sheriff Jack Johnson said that “the death toll would have undoubtedly been higher without the quick-thinking actions of Salinas and the off-duty cop.”
Just since the beginning of 2025, there have been 15 such defensive gun uses where police have made similar statements about armed civilians acting to save many lives.
The CDC recently restored information on defensive gun use that it removed from its website in 2022 after gun-control advocates privately pressured agency officials to take it down. Until May 2022, the CDC cited a 2013 National Academies of Sciences report that the agency had co-sponsored. The report reviewed studies that produced widely varying estimates of defensive gun use. It cited an estimate of 108,000 defensive gun uses annually, but warns that “108,000 is difficult to interpret because
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
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I remember Larry Elder opening up his phone lines asking people if they’d ever used a gun defensively - lots of people called in saying they’d brandished a gun to stop a break-in, house, car or other crime.
He asked each person if they’d reported it to the police - not a one said he/she had. This is California, I certainly wouldn’t.
Why does the CDC get involved with reporting gun statistics?
Smart gun owners.
I think it was Bill Clinton who directed CDC to do this.
Because the leftist narrative is that “gun violence” is a disease caused by guns. Guess what the cure is?
Of course this is all window dressing for civilian disarmament. They don’t actually believe that, but the useful idiots soak it up like sponges.
More money for research that only lines pockets and produces leftist talking points.
Not their fault. Federal employees can’t count very high.
There’s not really any point. The vast majority of defensive gun uses don’t involve a discharge, just the brandishing of the weapon. So you’ll never get an accurate count because gun guys know there’s too much of a risk that they could get jammed up over simply showing off their gun, even with perfect justification, so they won’t report the incident if it can’t be traced back to them.
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