While anti-Second Amendment politicians have pushed laws targeting so-called “Glock switches,” their use in homicide has been rarer than fatal lightning strikes since 2021.
Supporters of the measures passed in four states claimed that so-called “Glock switches” are used to illegally convert Glock pistols into machine guns, claiming the bans would make streets safer. However, research by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) showed that murders with illegally-modified Glocks is rarer than fatal lightning strikes.
“The total that we have so far found is 40 murders from 17 attacks where someone was murdered,” the CPRC article says, adding that while they attempted to do an “exhaustive search,” it was possible there were other killings.
By comparison, the National Weather Service confirmed 81 fatal lightning strikes since the start of 2021. The NWS also confirmed 40 fatal lightning strikes in 2016 alone.
The CPRC noted that the rarity of killings involving pistols with the illegal modifications could be due to the risks to the operators the illegal modifications create. One such malfunction is an “out of battery discharge,” where the gun fires despite the breech being in an improper position, usually caused because a “Glock switch” bypassesthe timing and trigger-reset features the semiautomatic pistols use.
Connecticut, Maryland, California and New York have passed bills banning Glocks over the so-called “Glock switches,” despite the rare use in crime and the heavy penalties involved. The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s RightSideofLegal.org website warns that having a machine-gun conversion device, like a Glock switch, without registration and authorization from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) can lead to ten years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 in fines.
Glock pistols are widely recognized for their popularity with civilians and law-enforcement agencies in the United States, frequently featured in rankings of top-selling firearms by publications such as Guns and Guns and Ammo magazine. According to a 2018 press release issued by the company, the Glock 19X model achieved sales of over 100,000 units within the first six months following its launch. . . .
Dr. John R. Lott is among the rarest of researchers: an honest man who makes his methods, data sets, and results available to other researchers. That’s what every researcher is supposed to do so others can verify their work. If science isn’t replicable, if it can’t be falsified, it isn’t science. Bellesiles wasn’t, and he paid a price seldom paid by unethical researchers these days.
Lott is the head of the Crime Prevention Research Center, where he does a great deal of work on crime-related issues, including defensive gun uses. In May of 2026, he wrote:
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates there were approximately 330,000 violent victimizations involving a firearm in 2021. That same year there were estimated 1.67 million defensive gun uses. That is defensive gun uses are 5.06 times more than firearms used in crime.
Note that Lott provides links to his sources.
It’s reasonably well known that in recent years, law enforcement agencies, both local and state, have largely stopped reporting crime statistics to the FBI. This is certainly due in part to their mistrust of the FBI, which, particularly during the Biden’s Handlers’ years, was highly politicized and couldn’t be trusted to honestly compile and report those facts. Also, blue state cities were notorious for scrubbing crime data to make crime, particularly crime committed by blacks—much of it–and illegal immigrants, disappear. That also helped hide their disastrous defunding of their police forces. . . .
Lott’s other cited source is a 2021 survey of about 54,000 US residents 18+. The survey found 81.4+% of Americans 18+ own guns, and over 31% have used a gun in self-defense. . . .
Mike McDaniel, “The Media hides the truth about guns,” American Thinker, May 23, 2026.
What if someone told you a likely voter who identifies as “very liberal” is more likely to carry concealed than a likely voter who identifies as “very conservative”?
You’d likely ask what website printed that statistic.
In this case, it came from a very reputable one: the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC). The CPRC hired McLaughlin & Associates to survey 1,000 general election voters on May 19, 2026, to determine how many voters carry concealed handguns.
“Hispanic and black voters carry concealed handguns at disproportionately high rates relative to their shares of the voting population,” noted the CPRC. “Perhaps most surprising, voters who identify as ‘very liberal’ report carrying all or most of the time at the highest rate of any ideological group, slightly exceeding the rate among those who identify as ‘very conservative,’ the second-highest group.”
All of the results from this survey would be fun to relate to a member of The New York Timeseditorial board, as it should make them pause and fret about their political position on the Second Amendment—elections, or to be more precise the power elections represent, are what worries woke, elitist anti-gun types such as those at the Times. Indeed, the changes this survey found expose a shift in the use—and, hopefully, understanding—of this right.
This survey found that 30 percent of likely voters say they carry a concealed handgun at least occasionally, while 13.2 percent say they carry all or most of the time. In constitutional carry states, some 34 percent of likely voters report carrying.
Overall, the survey determined that the percent of Americans carrying increased from 24.3 percent in December 2024 to 29.8 percent in May 2026.
As John Lott, the founder and CEO of the CPRC, is always crunching the numbers to understand how things stand and how they’re changing, he developed formulas to determine the odds that one person in a crowd at a public place that is not a “gun-free” zone is carrying. You can see his formulas at crimeresearch.org. The results are interesting.
If we assume (based on the CPRC’s statistics) that “6.3% of general election voters carry all the time and 64 percent of adults are general election voters,” then the probability that someone in a group of adults will likely be carrying a concealed handgun can be calculated.
In a group of 10 adult likely voters, there is a 33.7 percent chance someone is carrying concealed. If there are 20 people, then the odds are better than half (56 percent) that someone is lawfully carrying concealed.
According to this research, today, an incredible 20 percent of likely voters now hold a concealed handgun permit (20.2 percent), which is more than double the overall rate for adults (8 percent).
“Blacks account for 11% of likely voters, but they represent 15.9% of those who carry all or most of the time,” note the CPRC. “Hispanics also carry at disproportionately high rates, making up 18.8% of those who carry all or most of the time despite accounting for only 11% of likely voters. By contrast, whites and Asians carry at rates below their shares of likely voters. Whites make up 72% of likely voters but only 62.6% of those who carry all or most of the time, while Asians account for 4% of likely voters but just 2% of frequent carriers.”
The CPRC article on this survey calls it “interesting” that urban voters carry at high rates, but, given the increased danger in urban areas, this statistic does not seem surprising—though without all of the court and legislative wins, in part thanks to the advocacy and legal battles fought by the NRA, this would not be the case.
The CPRC survey determined that “[a]lthough urban residents make up 31.3% of likely voters, they account for 42.8% of those who carry frequently and 35.8% of those who carry sometimes or rarely… . By contrast, rural residents carry frequently at rates well below their 23.3% share of likely voters.”
The CPRC broke down those who carry by political philosophies and, as noted in the beginning of this article, found some results that might surprise New York U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D). “Very liberal and very conservative likely voters carry frequently at disproportionately high rates relative to their shares of the population,” reported the CPRC. “Very liberal voters account for 24.6% of frequent carriers even though they make up only 12.9% of likely voters. Similarly, very conservative voters account for 23% of frequent carriers while making up 18% of likely voters. Republicans also carry frequently at disproportionately high rates, while Democrats and Independents/Other carry at relatively lower rates.”
Our Second Amendment-protected freedom, of course as it should, applies equally to all American citizens—that even includes the ones who might vote against it. It is, however, interesting and good that more citizens appear to be embracing this basic human right.
Frank Miniter, “Surprising Concealed Carry Statistics,” American Rifleman, June 2, 2026.
For now, New Hampshire is one of 37 states where college campuses are gun-free zones. This includes Rhode Island and Virginia, where Brown University and Old Dominion University, respectively, were each sites of deadly shootings this school year. Indeed, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center, more than 80 percent of mass public shootings since 1998 “have occurred in places where guns are banned.” . . .
The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) hired McLaughlin & Associates to survey 1,000 general election voters May 19, 2026 (cross tabs available here), regarding whether likely voters carry concealed handguns. In the survey, 13.2% carry all/most of the time, with another 16.6% carrying sometimes/rarely. The percent who carry all or most the time is virtually the same as the percent who carried similarly in December 2024. But the percentage who carry at least some of the time or rarely has increased by 5.4 percentage points (from 11.2% to 16.6%). So the total who are carrying increased by 5.5 percentage points (from 24.3% to 29.8%). . . .
Ameerika Ühendriikide kogemus näitab, et naiste valimisõigus muudab riigi kiirkorras kordades suuremaks ja suurendab selle sotsiaalpoliitikate osakaalu.
1999. aastal ilmus teadusajakirjas Journal of Political Economy (Poliitökonoomika ajakiri) majandusteadlaste John R. Lott, Jr. ja Lawrence W. Kenny teadustöö “Kas naiste valimisõigus muutis valitsuse suurust ja ulatust?”.
Teadustöös vaadeldakse Ameerika Ühendriikide aastaid 1870–1940.
Naistele anti esimestes osariikides valimisõigus 1920. aastal.
Autorid analüüsivad:
— Riigi kulutusi ja tulusid (per capita).
— Osariikide rahvaesindajate hääletamismustreid Ameerika Ühendriikide kongressis ja senatis.
— Erinevate seaduste vastuvõtmist. . . . [Much more here]
“Teadustöö: naiste valimisõigus muudab riigi suureks kanaemaks,” BJEKTIIV (Estonian), May 21, 2026.
On July 30, 2024, the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) published a paper showing massive errors in the FBI Active Shooter Reports from 2014 through 2023.
In that time, I have personally been following the issue throughout. The first viral post I wrote about the subject of armed civilians stopping mass murders was published on December 15, 2012. It had 16 incidents documented from October 1997 to 11 December 2012. All of these incidents occurred before the FBI started collecting data on “active shooter” incidents.
The CPRC paper, with a solid institution and organization behind it, does a better job than a single blogger did at the end of 2012.
The Crime Prevention Research Center report claims the FBI’s active shooter reports from 2014 through 2023 badly undercount armed citizens who stopped attacks. According to the CPRC, the FBI listed only 14 active shooter incidents stopped by defensive gun use during that period, while the CPRC found 180 such cases.
The CPRC shows how badly the FBI has bungled the job of tracking these events. The first FBI report was published ten months later, during the Obama administration, in September 2014. The CPRC covered the problems with the FBI report in October 2014.
The reason for the difference in the numbers reported by the FBI is not immediately obvious. It happens because the FBI structured its approach to identifying incidents and determining whether they qualify for inclusion. . . .
Amy Curtis, “After Attacking Pregnancy Centers, New Jersey’s AG Is Now Targeting the State’s Glock Owners” Townhall, May 22, 2026. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/amy-curtis/2026/05/22/new-jersey-ag-subpoena-glock-sales-n2676513
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