Dr. John Lott was interviewed on the Sinclair Broadcast network about what can be done to stop mass public shootings.
NBC Montana (Missoula), Sunday, August 4th, 2019; WPDE, ABC 15 News (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina), August 4th, 2019; KEYE CBS Austin (Texas), August 4th, 2019; KATU Channel 2 (Western Oregon), August 4th, 2019; KLEW CBS (Lewiston, Idaho), August 4th, 2019; KTUL ABC Channel 8 (Tulsa, Oklahoma), August 4, 2019; and at least 36 other television stations.
In case after case, whether it was the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival last weekend, or the rash of school shootings, Lott argued that in each case, the shooters select their targets because they are unlikely to defend themselves.
“There is a reason why these killers—when you go and read the diaries or look at other statements or people who have left statements—try to pick out those venues where they know victims can defend themselves,” he noted. “These people may be crazy but they are not stupid. They know if they go to a place where people can’t defend themselves, they are going to be able to kill more people then they could have otherwise.”
Lott further suggested that concerns about individuals with concealed carry permits causing more harm than good are unsupported by the data. Though possible, Lott said there is “not one single case” where either a police officer accidentally shot a permit holder or a permit holder accidentally shot a bystander.
Lott said there were many underreported incidents where an individual with a concealed carry permit was able to thwart a shooter. He cited several instances, including one in Titusville, Florida in 2018, where an individual with a concealed handgun permit holder shot a would-be attacker at a back to school event with over 200 children and their families.
“My guess is that if you gave coverage to those types of things, those types of attacks and how they fail, [it] might cause some other attackers to think twice before they engaged in their attacks,” Lott said.
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