Research by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) showed that murders with illegally modified Glocks were rarer than fatal lightning strikes. By comparison, the National Weather Service confirmed 81 fatal lightning strikes since the start of 2021 and confirmed 40 fatal lightning strikes in 2016 alone.
“The total that we have so far found is 40 murders from 17 attacks where someone was murdered,” the CPRC article said, adding that while they attempted an “exhaustive search,” they could not discount the possibility that the illegally modified guns had been used in other homicides. . . .
The Crime Prevention Research Center released a study showing that while AR-15 and AK-47 ownership is at all-time highs, murders with rifles remain on the decline.
According to CPRC, the ownership of AR-15s/AK-47s increased from about 1 percent at the end of the federal “assault weapons” ban to 10.2 percent in 2025. That is roughly a tenfold increase in ownership, yet the rate for which rifles were used for murder declined from 4.8 percent in 1994 to 2.67 percent in 2025.
Ironically, the highest number of murders with rifles occurred during the time frame 1994-2004, which was when the federal “assault weapons” ban was in place.
Breitbart News previously pointed to FBI numbers to show over three and a half times as many people were stabbed to death in 2020 than were killed with all kinds of rifles combined. Moreover, FBI’s Uniform Crime Report showed over twice as many people were killed with knives and other cutting tools than were killed with rifles in 2021. . . .
A Crime Prevention Research Center analysis published Nov. 4, 2026, finds the share of firearm murders committed with rifles declined from 1991 through 2025. The estimated number of AR-15 and AK-47 rifles rose sharply over the same period. . . .
“Rifle Share of Murders Fell as AR-15s Spread,” WiseVoter, November 7, 2026.
But the Crime Prevention Research Center confirms that more than 90 percent of America’s mass shootings over the last 75 years happen in gun-free zones. Criminals love “gun free”. You notice random killers don’t attack police stations or gun stores.
Lars Larson, “City Hall paints a target on itself!” The Lars Larson Show, October 30, 2026.
While anti-gun advocates shrilly scream about runaway crime and the need for more gun control laws, violent crime rates are actually at a near all-time low. Meanwhile, a recent study by the Crime Prevention Research Center shows that the majority of murders committed with firearms come in just a tiny portion of the United States—mainly Democrat-controlled blue jurisdictions.
CPRC had, in the past, examined how heavily murders concentrate in the United States, but had not focused solely on murders committed with firearms. The latest study shows that while 53% of murders occur in just 2% of the nation’s counties, 57% of murders with firearms occur in that 2% of counties. The takeaway: murders by firearms are more concentrated than all murders. . . .
Meanwhile, Lott wrote, the counties with the most murders accounted for slightly smaller shares of the national total. . . .
Now, here’s the kicker, although it’s no surprise. The worst counties for murder by firearms are blue counties where politicians have passed stronger gun laws and continue to push for more restrictions on lawful gun owners. . . .
Ultimately, the CPRC research proves that if you live in a county run by Democrats, you’re less safe when it comes to murder and murder by firearms. With Tuesday night’s blue wave putting more gun-ban advocates in public office, that trend isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
Like all CPRC reports, this one contains tons of additional interesting information, including comparisons with Canada and Australia murder concentration. Read the complete report here.
In fact, according to the nonpartisan Crime Prevention Research Center, more than one-third of attacks that qualify as active shooter incidents are stopped by armed citizens on the scene before law enforcement arrives.
Writing for National Review Online, CPRC President John Lott explained how Federal Bureau of Investigation data get it all wrong on the important topic of armed citizens stopping violent attackers. As Lott pointed out, just two days after the Bend, Oregon, attack in which an armed citizens saved dozens of children’s and teachers’ lives, an Associated Press story on the incident began like this: “Few mass shootings in the U.S. end like the deadly attack on an Oregon elementary school: with an armed civilian opening fire on the gunman.” Additionally, National Public Radio noted “how rarely an armed civilian ends an attack like this.”
According to Lott, who has done more research on armed citizens and active shooters than anyone else, both the AP and NPR are flat wrong in those assertions. And the reason is because of how the numbers are crunched and reported. The FBI defines an active shooter as someone actively killing or attempting to kill people in a populated, public area. An incident can qualify even if a gunman fires at just one person and misses. The category includes mass public shootings, but the FBI generally excludes shootings connected to other crimes.
As the senior adviser for research and statistics in the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs during much of the first Trump Administration, where his responsibilities included evaluating the FBI’s active-shooter reports, Lott noticed the reports omitted or misclassified numerous cases in which armed civilians stopped attacks. And unfortunately, that is still occurring today.
John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center points out that the FBI substantially undercounts incidents stopped by armed citizens. CPRC’s database identifies hundreds of active-shooter incidents and says armed citizens stopped a substantial number of them, while the FBI’s narrower count credits armed citizens with stopping far fewer incidents. CPRC publishes its underlying case list so the disagreement can be examined case by case. . . .
Chuck Michel, “The Social Utility of Firearms, Revisited,” Ammoland, November 3, 2026.
For years, Americans have been told that armed citizens rarely stop active shooters. The FBI’s own statistics have helped reinforce that narrative, with federal reports crediting armed civilians with stopping fewer than 4% of active-shooter incidents. But research from the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) paints a dramatically different picture.
According to the CPRC’s latest research, armed citizens stopped 36.6% of identified active-shooter incidents between 2014 and 2025, nearly ten times the percentage reflected in FBI reporting. The discrepancy raises serious questions about the federal government’s accounting of defensive gun use and the media’s reliance on those statistics.
In an October 23 article published by National Review, CPRC President Dr. John Lott challenged the FBI’s numbers and the resulting portrayal of armed civilian intervention as an exceptionally rare occurrence. . . .
Yet the shooting occurred in a school district that had already adopted restrictions against armed school employees. According to Crime Prevention Research Center founder Dr. John Lott, 25 of Oregon’s 197 school districts prohibit staff from carrying firearms, and the attack occurred in one of those districts. . . .
The argument does not need the false internet claim that removing five Democratic-led cities would push America to 189th in the world for murder. The Crime Prevention Research Center itself rejected that claim. The documented death tolls already provide ample reason to demand answers. . . .
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