The Washington Examiner, The Blaze, Breitbart, American Thinker, and many other sources

And so, the usual cycle plays out: armed civilian stops active shooter, media steps in (if it even reports it at all) to remind us that the “good guy with a gun” is a myth. Is it, though? CNN cites ALERRT, which provides the FBI with its data. According to these figures, good guys with guns stopped only 4.4% of shooting incidents in recent years. According to economist John Lott, who runs the non-profit Crime Prevention Research Center, the number is at least 34.4%. Lott contends that errors in reporting and classification keep the FBI’s statistics artificially low.  Lott’s case is convincing, and you can judge it for yourself here. At any rate, it’s unlikely anyone in that mall was second-guessing Dicken’s choice to stay strapped. Perhaps Dicken’s sensible, responsible risk mitigation would be more palatable if we explained it with a metaphor: think of the gunman as one of the unvaxxed, spewing COVID cooties at innocent bystanders, until our hero courageously draws his N-95 mask … Matt Himes, “Good guy with a gun? Try these concealed carry bags,” Blaze Media, November 29, 2023. John Lott, head of the Crime Prevention Research Center, has done it again: his latest survey reveals that the number of registered voters now carrying a concealed firearm at least some of the time has tripled in just the last six years. How this might impact the upcoming presidential election was not addressed, but other data from his study prove that the Second Amendment is alive and well in America and could be a factor next November. Most of the media predictably avoided saying much about his study, but those that did focused on one statistic: the number of permit holders declined last year. Fox News, to its credit, tried to correct the misimpression: “The number of concealed carry permit holders in the U.S. dropped slightly this year, but the number of Americans carrying a concealed firearm has likely increased overall due to more than half of U.S. states enacting laws that do not require eligible residents to obtain a permit, according to the author of a new study examining gun data. . . .“ That makes perfect sense. As more and more states go “constitutional carry” (i.e.,“permitless carry”) why would someone want a permit? A small number would no doubt like to have a permit so they can legally carry in “reciprocal” states, but the rest are free to carry without a permit. Still, the numbers are staggering, and most encouraging to those in the freedom fight who know how important an armed private citizenry is as a bulwark against confiscation and tyranny. First, the “decline” is a rounding error. Lott’s study indicated a decline of less than 0.5 percent in the number of those with permits, and he admits that his data isn’t as reliable as he would like it to be. Second, other factors must be considered in that minimal decline, i.e., the deaths of existing permit holders and inflation putting the cost of a firearm out of reach for some (particularly those in the inner cities, where gun violence is the most rampant and where present gun laws make it nearly impossible for law-abiding citizens to arm themselves). Complacency could also be a factor because of several recent victories of gun owners’ rights over the ATF’s war against them. Here is more of the good news from Lott’s study: — The United States unofficially became a “constitutional carry” nation this year after Alabama, Florida, and Nebraska enacted permitless carry laws; — There are an estimated 22 million Americans with active concealed carry permits; — One in every 10 U.S. adults now holds a concealed carry permit; — Women, Asians, and blacks “are increasingly turning to gun ownership,” according to Lott; — More than 15 percent of general election voters carry a concealed firearm at least part of time, up from just 5 percent who did so in 2017; — “Permit holders are convicted of any type of firearms-related violations at about 1/12th the rate that police officers are convicted … and police officers are convicted at about 1/20th the rate of the general population … [thus] permit holders are virtually never convicted of firearms-related violations”; — While the number of permit holders has exploded over the past few years, violent crime, on average, has declined; — Gun sales “have exploded since 2020, surging to the highest level in a decade”; and — “Due to old and missing data, 21.8 million is undoubtedly an underestimate of the total number of Americans with permits.” . . . (STILL MORE IS AVAILABLE IN THE ARTICLE) Bob Adelmann, “John Lott’s Latest Survey Reveals More Voters Carrying Concealed,” New American, November 30, 2023 “It is very likely that any place that allows people to carry a concealed handgun will have someone carrying their gun,” said a new report shared with Secrets from John R. Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center. Lott has long followed the explosion in government-issued concealed carry permits. His 74-page report said that the percentage of people carrying guns rose from 5.4% in 2017 to 15.6% today. Overall, he said, there are 21.8 million permits issued. That’s a decrease of 0.5% from last year. But that’s not bad news for proponents of the Second Amendment and concealed carry laws. Lott explained that the leveling off of permits is likely due to the surge in states that now allow citizens to carry their handguns without a permit. The growth of so-called constitutional carry states has reached 27 and is the biggest story in the gun world. “In other words, people in those 27 states are allowed to carry concealed handguns without permits, representing 65% of the land in the country and 44% of the population in 2022,” his report said. “It is clear that more people are legally carrying.” “What does this mean in practice? It means that in most places where people are allowed to carry a concealed handgun, there will be someone carrying a concealed handgun. If the probability that any one person has a concealed handgun permit is 5.4%, in a room with 10 people, the probability that at least one person will have a permitted concealed handgun is 43%. In a room with 20 people, that probability goes up to 67%. With 40, that probability rises to 89%,” the report said. The growth follows the surge in violent crime and increase in gun ownership in America, where for the first time a majority say that they live in gun-owning homes. The state permitting data his team reviewed found that black permitting is up 223%, Asian 163%, and women 23%. He also said that in states where there is a high number of concealed carriers, crime is down. . . . Paul Bedard, “Explosion of concealed handguns means someone nearby is carrying,” The Washington Examiner, November 30, 2023. John Lott has noted in his research the strong correlation between higher gun ownership among civilians and lower violent crime. Lott also has noted that violent criminals tend to avoid areas of higher private gun ownership. . . . Gardner Goldsmith, “Portland, ME, Politician Says Mass-Murderer’s Motive Was… White Supremacy,” Media Research Center, October 30, 2023. More people are packing thanks to constitutional carry: “If you want to reduce crime, you have to make it clear that the likely victims of crime will be carrying.” So says John Lott, who, as president of the Crime Prevention Resource Center and the author of the bestselling More Guns, Less Crime, has done more than perhaps any single American to ensure that proponents of the Second Amendment are armed with the facts. Those facts continue to evolve, too, and in an encouraging direction for Liberty. For example, a new study by Lott indicates that more than half of the states now allow constitutional carry that is, the right of residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. He estimates that 8.4% of American adults now have concealed-carry permits. Criminals tend to go where the guns aren’t, but the American people are growing increasingly tired of being at the mercy of those criminals. As The Washington Times reports, “With the addition this year of Alabama, Florida, and Nebraska, 27 states now allow concealed carry without a permit.” As Lott notes, “What that means is it’s a lot less costly, a lot less difficult, for people to carry, and that primarily impacts…