Thursday, June 18, 2015

Using Guns In Self-Defense Is Rare, Study Finds

Huffington Post

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.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, another study from the Violence Policy Center, How could I possibly refute such a learned group of scholars. *snort* Besides of course, pointing to their flawed "Concealed Carry Killer" database that is.
    I guess I could always fall back on a CDC study ordered by President Obama himself,

    "Guns are used for self-defense often and effectively. “Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year … in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008,” says the report."

    http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2013/06/handguns_suicides_mass_shootings_deaths_and_self_defense_findings_from_a.html

    Here we go, the VPC says,

    "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."

    For some reason, even though they include the chart showing it, they leave out defensive gun uses against violent crime. Perhaps they're hoping media types don't bother with it. Of course the study they took the data from says this,

    "In 2007-11, about 1% of nonfatal violent crime victims
    used a firearm in self defense"

    http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fv9311.pdf

    And when you look at the data in both the VPC "study" and the source data, you come up with a total of 338,700 defensive gun uses. A not insignificant number.
    And of course, while the report concerns itself with defensive gun uses against crime, they throw in numbers in which a sizable percentage of which are suicides. Pretty wild when even studies ordered by a Democratic President prove you wrong.
    But it is the VPC we're talking about.

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    Replies
    1. How do you compare estimates to the certainty of dead body count by gun shot? Are there police reports that certify each successful defensive gun use? There are police reports that certify each dead body from gun shot. One is an estimate, the other is not. Not comparable.

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    2. "How do you compare estimates to the certainty of dead body count by gun shot? Are there police reports that certify each successful defensive gun use?"

      No Anon, there isn't any such data being collected that I know of. If that was the only thing used, the result would have been a pretty short "study" by the VPC, though perhaps a much more accurate one.
      After talking about the number of defensive gun uses resulting in death, the VPC goes on to discuss DGUs not resulting in death using, you guessed it, a survey. Namely the National Crime Victimization Survey.
      And the study I cited also came to their conclusions about DGUs using data from surveys. At the very least, I believe that the study I cited is more reliable due to the impartiality that comes from it being conducted by the CDC, as opposed to the one conducted by the VPC, which is an organization advocating gun control.
      I'm sure that the issue of impartiality would be mentioned if a study conducted by the NRA was published. Plus I've also looked at the VPCs Concealed Carry Database and found similar issues with accuracy which we've discussed here in the past.
      I always look forward to reading "studies" published by the VPC because their glaring inaccuracies add to their already well deserved reputation among gun control advocacy groups. Just as Everytown did their reputation no good with their school shootings database which was criticized by such media sites as Politifact and CNN.

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    3. No Anon, there isn't any such data being collected that I know of.
      So what you say is opinion compared to facts.

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    4. "So what you say is opinion compared to facts."

      Again Anon, try reading my original comment and you'll see that my opinion is what study i believe is more accurate and why. The VPC makes use of a survey to estimate the number of defensive gun uses not resulting in death and then fails to inclusion all of the data in its comments, resulting in inaccurate statements which I brought up. Such as the statement regarding property crimes, while leaving out violent crimes.
      The study I cited was conducted by the CDC and ordered by the President also used data from surveys that estimate the number of defensive gun uses. So the only opinion involved is my belief that the study conducted by the CDC and ordered by the President is more accurate than one conducted by an anti-gun organization.
      Which do you believe to be more accurate? And why?

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    5. Neither, because both are based on guesses, or estimates, not on actual cases. Then you go on to use that fictional number, so you are trying to compare factual (real) numbers to guesses, oh, I already said that.

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    6. ss, what's your personal guess? Do you think there are 300,000 legitimate DGUs each year? As you well know, I don't?

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  2. One of the best ways to protect oneself from the crimes is to practice the most feasible action that should be taken when in threatening situation over and over again. Get oneself aware of all possible self defense techniques which one can employ.

    Regards,
    Jacky

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