The Secret Service released its exhaustive report for incidents 2008-2017, in Nov. 2019. I will invest several blogs in highlighting the findings for you. You can read it in its entirety at: https://www.secretservice.gov/protection/ntac/research/
FACT: 61% of school attacks used guns, 2/3 of which were handguns and one third, long guns (ie. rifles and /or shotguns). 39% used knives, mostly of the folding, pocket variety.
So, why the emphasis confiscation/prohibiting of semi-automatic rifles with large capacity magazines? There are various reasons why certain factions want to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, but none of them are based on facts or have to do with saving lives.
FACT: 76% of attackers acquired the gun used in the attack from a parent or close relative, with 48% not secured in a meaningful way. 16% were locked up but the attacker was able to get into the secured device.
So, why all the emphasis on gun registration and background checks? Requiring all private transactions to include a background check (all sales through Federally licensed firearm dealers already do) is an attempt at gun registration, not gun safety. Lists of guns and their owners are necessary for their future confiscation.
FACT: 51% of the attacks were ended by the attacker. One third was by suicide; others by surrender, flight, gun malfunction, or another student. In 15% of the cases law enforcement brought the attacks to an end. Surprisingly (or maybe not so), in no case did police who were arriving from off campus (ie. not School Resource Officers) stop an attack.
So, why the emphasis on the “evil” inanimate object, the gun, when in fact a gun was the solution to the problem? Most of the time the attackers continued until they decided it was time to stop, often after many were injured or killed. Clearly, a good guy with a gun can (and in some cases did) stop the senseless murder.
There is much more to this report, and we will continue to examine it. If the 68 page report could be summarized in a few words, it would be that the vast majority of emphasis on stopping these mass murders is misdirected, politically-based, and logically unsound.