FBI Report on Mass Shootings Riddled With Errors

HOUSTON, Texas — A fresh report by the FBI would lead one to believe that mass shootings in the U.S. have dramatically increased during recent years. But according to economist John Lott — Founder and President of the Crime Prevention Research Center — the agency’s recent study is riddled with errors and may be nothing more than a bogus attempt to peddle a political agenda. 

In its report, the FBI claimed that between 2000 and 2013, there were 160 mass or active shootings in the U.S. Over the years, these incidents appear to have increased in frequency; while there was only one such occurrence in 2000, there were 17 in 2013. Additionally, both active shooter attacks and deaths increased at the alarming rate of 16 percent, the FBI asserted. 

It did not take long for the mainstream media to use the study to arouse fear. “Mass Shootings on the Rise, FBI says,” the Wall Street Journal printed on its cover. Article after article parroted a similar sentiment. 

Lott, however, claims that the study distorted facts to make mass shootings appear to be on the rise. Of the 160 cases the FBI discussed, many were not mass shootings at all, but rather other incidents that included a firearm in public. In 32 of the counted occurrences, no one was killed; in 35 others, only one person was killed.

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