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Friday, August 28th, 2015

Using Guns In Self-Defense Is Rare, Study Finds

Author:     Michael McLaughlin
Source:     The Huffington Post
Publication Date:     06/17/2015 9:59 pm EDT
Link: Using Guns In Self-Defense Is Rare, Study Finds
Stephan:   Several readers wrote me on and offlist telling me how naivé I was in advocating gun control. All them stressed one thing: "if you don't have a gun in your house you are completely vulnerable. You're not as safe." So I went looking for actual data instead of the disinformation put out by the NRA, which I increasingly think should be seen as a terrorist organization serving the greed of the arms industry. This story covers a newly released study, Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use which, based on actual data and not gun lobbyist propaganda tells a rather different story. If you are interested in pursuing this further I suggest that you download the report. Citation: Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use. Violence Policy Center. http://www.vpc.org/studies/justifiable15.pdf
An American gunshow Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency

An American gunshow
Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency

American gun owners are far more likely to injure themselves or someone else with their firearm than to stop a criminal, according to a new study from a group calling for tighter gun control.

The study, released Wednesday by the Violence Policy Center, found there were 258 justifiable homicides involving civilians using firearms in 2012, compared with 8,342 murders by gun. Even if a criminal isn’t shot down, the study found that civilians rarely use guns to protect themselves. “Intended victims of property crimes engaged in self-protective behavior with a firearm” only 0.1 percent of the times they were targeted by a crook.

The report, titled “Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use” relied on FBI and Bureau of Justice data. The Violence Policy Center said the report disproves the premise of arguments by the National Rifle Association that more guns in the hands of regular people will reduce crime.

 “The NRA has staked […]

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1 Comment

  1. Micalis A. Lundgren on Monday, August 31, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    The VPC has been caught repeatedly rigging the numbers on their “research”.

    Scratch the surface before you believe them.

    Go ahead and put their name in the search engine and see what you come up with….Violence Policy Center

    This one sticks out for me from the Crime Prevention Research Center:

    http://crimeresearch.org/2015/06/new-violence-policy-center-study-on-guns-recycles-old-claims-using-justifiable-homicide-data/

    Talk about PROPAGANDA!Now VPC is a propaganda MACHINE. Anyone who purports themselves to be an ‘Authority” and willfully rigs stats and figures to support their agenda, is by definition a Propagandist.

    Schwartz, you’re better than this…. don’t let these people get your ear and ruin your cause. They will be routed out by the truth. Don’t be standing beside them when they are exposed for what they are. Unless….well…. the Kool Aid is to your liking.