Huffington Post Twists Studies to Claim Armed Resistance Doesn't Help in Shootings

Huffington Post Twists Studies to Claim Armed Resistance Doesn't Help in Shootings

On September 29, the Huffington Post ran a column arguing that a recent FBI study on “active shooter” incidents (ACIs) allegedly proves the falsity of the NRA’s maxim that the “only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”  

HuffPo arrives at this position because in 21 of the 160 ACIs studied by the FBI, unarmed civilians were able to disarm the shooter. 

According to the article, because unarmed persons were able to subdue an armed person 13 percent of the time, that proves that the NRA and common sense are wrong. A good guy with a gun is suddenly not the only things that stops a bad guy with gun.

To bolster their contention, HuffPo also cites a 2005 study “funded by the Justice Department” which “showed that persons that resisted assaults by running away or calling the police had a better chance of escaping injury than if they resisted the assault with a gun.” 

In reality, the study says

In assault incidents, most Self Protection (SP) tactics appear to reduce the risk of injury and serious injury compared to nonresistance. The only SP actions that appear to significantly raise the risk of injury and serious injury are were ambiguous, non-forceful tactics [like] “stalling/cooperation” and “screaming from pain or fear.” Thus we found no evidence that female victims’ forceful SP actions are more dangerous than non-forceful SP actions.

The study includes tables that show one rape incident where a victim threatened the attacker with a gun but was raped anyway. A second table shows two separate victims threatened their attackers with a gun during attempted sexual assaults and the assaults ended. 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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