John Lott provides more insight into ABC’s Shameful ‘20/20′ Experiment

Recently, Buckeye Firearms Association's Dean Rieck wrote that Diane Sawyer had rigged a mass shooting experiment on 20/20. Rieck pointed out the many fallacies with the experiment, including an attacker with a shooting skill level far above the average mass shooter who had knowledge, not only that a student would be returning fire, but WHICH student, and the presence of cumbersome and unnecessary clothing designed to slow down the response of the victim.

In a piece published at FOXNews.com, Professor John Lott has made many of the same observations about the experiment, and also examined the many facts the 20/20 report left out, noting that "sometimes even the best editors can't hide everything the camera sees."

From the op-ed:

Gun control advocates look desperate. ...[O]n April 10, ABC aired a heavily promoted, hour long "20/20 special called "If I Only Had a Gun." It is ABC's equivalent of NBC's infamous exploding gas tanks in General Motors pickups where NBC rigged the truck to explode. With legislation in Texas and Missouri advancing to eliminate gun-free zones at universities, perhaps this response isn't surprising.

The show started and ended by claiming that allowing potential victims to carry guns would not help keep them safe –- not even with hundreds of hours of practice firing guns.

Lott's op-ed goes on to observe that:

• Despite all of ABC's references to the Columbine attack, the network never mentioned the armed guard at the school.
• No mention was made of the actual multiple victim public shootings stopped by people with concealed handguns nor did they describe who actually carried out such shootings.
• If the experiment run by "20/20" seriously demonstrated anything, it highlighted the problem of relying on uniformed police or security guards for safety: the killer instantly knows whom to shoot first.
• ABC'S "20/20″ exaggerates "the danger of accidentally hitting a friend" when confronting an attacker. The show cites as an example is a man who mistook his wife for an intruder. Obviously that case is a tragedy, but those cases are exceedingly rare. But why didn't they present a single multiple victim attack as an example? Simple, because it has not happened.
• You would think that if gun control worked as well as ABC implies, there wouldn't be these multiple victim public shootings in those European countries with gun laws much stricter than those being publicly discussed in the United States or by ABC. Yet, multiple victim public shootings are quite common in Europe.
• ABC never mentions a simple fact: all multiple victim public shootings with more than 3 people killed have occurred where permitted concealed handguns are prohibited.

Lott's op-ed concludes by observing that "rather than studying what actually happens during these shootings, ABC conjured up rigged experiments aimed at convincing Americans that guns are ineffective. Unfortunately, ABC's advice, rather than making victims safe, makes things safer for attackers."