FBI Undercounts Cases Where 'Good Guy with Gun' Stops Attacks

FBI undercounts cases where 'good guy with gun' stops attacks

The FBI's active-shooter database routinely misses cases where an armed civilian stops an active-shooter attack, according to a new report from the Crime Prevention Research Center.

Massive errors in FBI’s Active Shooting Reports from 2014-2025 regarding cases where civilians stop attacks: Instead of 3.9%, the correct number is at least 36.6%. Excluding gun-free zones, it averaged over 52.9%. In 2025, it was 58.3%.

Data: For convenience, the Excel file is available here, as well as a webpage with the list and links to the underlying news stories (see also here). We also show cases that the FBI missed of both armed and unarmed civilians stopping active shooting attacks. FBI Active Shooting reports are available here (2000-2013), here (2014-2015), here (2016-2017), here (2018), here (2019), here (2020), here (2021), here […]