UPDATE: Regarding Media Bias Fact Checks reference to John Lott’s research receiving money from the NRA

New: Media Bias Fact Check has updated their post on the CPRC, though it really just repackages

“claims made that John Lott & the CPRC are funded by the NRA”

No evidence is provided. The video of the claim by Alan Dershowitz is provided above. People can judge for themselves as Dershowitz isn’t even clear what he believes.

“junk science”

Media Bias Fact Check points to one report written by Ted Goertzel, a sociologist at Rutgers who has never published a single refereed paper on crime. A list of academic research that has confirmed Lott’s research is available here.

“website features an Op-Ed section that curates news from other right leaning outlets such as Fox News…”

Amazingly, Media Bias Fact Check ignores that we have featured pieces on our website from left leaning outlets such as the New York Times, many in the New York Daily News, and lots in the Washington Post (e.g., here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Regarding the three reviews by Politifact (note that the Media Bias Fact Check completely ignores the cases where Politifact relies on the CPRC for accurate information (e.g., here and here)), and they also ignore that Politifact is left leaning.

• Florida lawmaker repeats dodgy claim about crimes by cops vs. concealed permit holders – FALSE

This is not a very honest discussion. To see the information that we have available here.

• Trump’s Misleading Gun Rhetoric – FALSE

See our discussion available here. Politifact ignores how the FBI defines these cases.

• Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick claims states where people carry guns have less crime –MOSTLY FALSE

The vast majority of peer reviewed research supports what Patrick says, but Politifact only interviews left wing academics.

ORIGINAL: Given that Media Bias Fact Check (MBFC) is often pointed to as a useful source to evaluate bias in think tanks we have put this post together. MBFC references Alan Dershowitz’s claim 2012 claim on CNN to report that John Lott “has been accused of accepting funding from the National Rifle Association. Lott denies this claim,” we have put up this video to show Dershowitz twice saying that he was hardly making a clear claim and that no evidence was provided.

It would be nice if Media Bias Fact Check would correct the record.

Their other claim that one person has claimed Lott’s research is “junk science” is equally absurd. They point to one report that was written by Ted Goertzel, a sociologist at Rutgers who has never published a single refereed paper on crime. A list of academic research that has confirmed Lott’s research is available here.

Media Bias Fact Check is also not able to do simple math. While their scale indicates that the CPRC is located between someplace between the “right” and the “extreme right,” if you use the votes that they have collected, the CPRC is located between “right-center” and “right,” with it actually being slightly closer to the “right-center.” [If you take the votes on a 1 to 7 scale, with 7 being “extreme right,” the CPRC is at 5.44.) Of course, given the very biased write up by MBFC, it would be surprising that we were viewed as anything other than biased to the right.

UPDATE: May 24, 2020

Although there have been claims made that John Lott and the CPRC are funded by the NRA, there is not evidence to support that claim. Unfortunately, the website lacks transparency and does not disclose funding. It appears funding is derived through donations

This research was conducted by John Lott. In viewing the research present on their page, all of the research is favorable toward gun ownership and minimizes gun dangers.

The website features an Op-Ed section that curates news from other right leaning outlets such as Fox News, Townhall, Washington Times and the Daily Caller.

John Lott’s work has been called “Junk Science“

Here are MBFC’s numbers as of February 24, 2019.