Most “Active Shooters” Use Pistols
BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 2 months ago
Investigators have released information on the weapons carried by the gunman who opened fire at a Florida video game tournament this weekend, killing two and leaving another nine victims with bullet wounds: He was armed with two handguns, a 9mm and a .45 caliber, both recently purchased from a licensed dealer.
The fact that the assailant wielded a common semiautomatic pistol, the staple of the contemporary American firearms market, would seem to make this most recent gun rampage an outlier among the mass shootings that have elicited opposition to the assault-style rifles that have become closely associated with such attacks. But the numbers show that it instead makes the carnage at Jacksonville Landing routine.
The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University has studied active-shooter rampages for reports commissioned by the FBI. The FBI defines an active shooter as someone who kills or attempts to kill people in a confined or populated area. “Active shooter” is a more expansive category than mass shooting, which applies only to incidents that result in a minimum number of casualties. The term “active shooter” can apply to more targeted attacks as well as unsuccessful attempted mass shootings.
According to data compiled on 200 such attacks from 2000 through 2015, the ALERTT team found that pistols, not rifles, were the primary weapon used by the majority of active shooters …
Pistols were the most common weapon regardless of whether active shooters struck schools, businesses or churches. The perpetrator of one of the deadliest mass shootings in history, the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, was equipped solely with pistols.
Well then. We must ban all pistols. We mustn’t allow the people to defend themselves with – pistols.
On August 31, 2018 at 7:53 am, Fred said:
…”would seem to make this most recent gun rampage an outlier among the mass shootings that have elicited opposition to the assault-style rifles that have become closely associated with such attacks.”
The calls for ‘Assault Weapon’ bans are directed from on high by people, mostly in or associated with the United States Government who don’t want its citizens to have a competent deterrent to its power. The mouthpieces, both inside and outside of government, who call for these bans wouldn’t know a toaster from an M4 but they know an espresso from a latte of this you can be sure.
Remember that, all calls for assault weapons bans are directed by your loving savior the dot guv who wants you helpless at its mercy.
But what really caught my eye is the definition of Active Shooter. I’ve never, ever, heard of a passive shooter…except, of course for police where the gun ‘goes off’ or discharges seemingly by an act of the weapon’s sentient will, heh.
Just as matter of safety, never passively shoot. You could get somebody injured or killed.
On August 31, 2018 at 1:56 pm, Matt said:
Rampage shooter would be a good term.
More armed citizens, with the appropriate mindset, are a very good deterrent.
On September 1, 2018 at 6:07 am, Old Bill said:
“Well then. We must ban all pistols. We mustn’t allow the people to defend themselves with – pistols”
Give ’em time; they’ll get there. They don’t give a DAMN either way about people being able to defend themselves. As @Fred wrote weapons bans are about reducing the potential for revolt. Near-military-grade weapons are all they are aware of. They don’t realize that single-shot pistols can aid in acquiring full-on military grade weapons – a dead sentry doesn’t need an M-4, or that nice uniform or rations or boots . . .
They want to disarm the populace for the very same reason governments have ALWAYS done so. It’s just that before it was kings and emperors doing the banning.
On September 2, 2018 at 9:38 pm, Dan said:
By pulling data from 2000 to 2015 the numbers would say that pistols are the predominant weapon for such events. Wonder what the numbers from 2010 to 2015 would show??? I suspect that because of the lethality AND the ability to utilize higher capacity magazines most spree killers now would probably prefer an AR or AK over a pistol. The problem of course it is extremely difficult to obtain accurate information for such events.