Dr. John R. Lott, Jr. from the Crime Prevention Research Center and Dr. Carlisle E. Moody, Professor of Economics, Emeritus from College of William and Mary, aggregated the data. Their paper, “Do Armed Civilians Stop Active Shooters More Effectively Than Uniformed Police?” was released on April 3. //

“The first takeaway is, assuming our count is complete, that armed citizens have stopped more active shooter incidents than the police have, although the difference is not significantly different from zero,” Lott and Moody noted. “Also, armed citizens do not appear to interfere with the police or blunder so badly as to get their weapon taken away by the shooter or kill the wrong person.” //

This study by Lott and Moody has uncovered several important developments. Holistically, they found that a civilian response is more effective than uniformed police officers when it comes to stopping mass shooting events. That being said, the pair is quick to point out that the “result isn’t a criticism of law enforcement, it simply reflects the tactical realities they face.” They cite the high visibility of uniformed officers making them more of a target.

https://download.ssrn.com/2025/4/4/5205768.pdf.

Larry Arnold
19 hours ago

“The first takeaway is, assuming our count is complete, that armed citizens have stopped more active shooter incidents than the police have, although the difference is not significantly different from zero,”

Unless the study corrected for anti-gun laws, given that most mass shootings happen in "Gun-Free Zones" where civilians are prohibited from being armed, the finding is significant. Civilians are stopping as many mass shootings in the small subset of places where they are allowed to carry as the police are everywhere. //

SecondOpinionz Frontierjeanne
11 hours ago
A shooter is ready to attack the prey or the uniformed 'enemy'.
A shooter falls apart (psychologically) when the prey defend themselves.