Guns Are Used For Self Defense Essay

In his statistics it was shown that using or having a gun to resist an attack result in less risks of serious injury, especially for women. This is a good article that oppose the gun control law, the author gave good point on why Guns should not be control and guns are effective means of self – defense. But I believe that he could have gave more examples on how guns have been used for self – defense and how many lives that have been saved from guns than the crimes it has been used

Despite the danger guns are in the hands of criminals, the safety they can provide is hard to measure, but diffidently there. Over nine-hundred eighty nine thousand incidences are reported every year where a firearm was used to prevent a crime, including robberies, rapes, and murders (Geneva, 2000). A study was also done on how likely a felon is to commit a crime with even the possibility that someone else might have a firearm. Around forty-percent of criminals admitted to not committing a crime because they believed that a potential victim might have a firearm. Thirty-four percent of criminals have been had an incident where they were shot at, scared off, wounded or even captured by a victim that was armed (Armed and Considered, 1994). These people were not protected by sign of encouragement or Security Theater. They were saved because they had the ability to protect themselves. There was no one else to protect them but they were allowed to be able to ensure their own

School shootings, gang violence, drive by shootings, murder, and thousands of acts of violence are committed every day. Members of our society criticize their own people for this violence while they continue to sit back and do nothing about it. These acts of violence have many contributing factors. Violence in our country today is escalating because we don't control the distribution of the guns sold. There are not enough restrictions on guns sold legally. The illegal purchase of guns through the black market is out of control. There is not enough education on the usage and storage of guns.

About sixty percent of people in the U.S own guns, the estimated number of guns legally owned by civilians is 270,000,000 to 310,000,000 (FBI), and that’s not counting all the illegally owned firearms. When asked why they need guns, most Americans say that its part of their rights and amendments, to protect themselves and their family. If most people with guns just want to protect themselves, why do so many people die every year from gun violence? The answer is all the illegal firearms that land in the hands of criminals and psychopaths.

Once every thirteen seconds an American uses a gun to protect themselves (Harris). Americans having to use their guns that frequently is not the ideal situation, but without having guns once every thirteen seconds a person would die from an act of violence. Gun control should not be stricter in the United States because, guns are an excellent source of protection, guns can lower crime rates, and gun control laws only affects law abiding citizens.

National Crime Victimization Survey data,”robbery and assault victims who used gun to resist were less likely to be attacked”. John Lott, PhD,and David Mustard. PhD, which claim “more guns equal less crime”. This shows that you don't even need to harm someone to protect yourself .

* It was found that “criminal gun use is far more common than self-defense gun use.” Studies show that the number of respondents claiming to be victims of gun violence outnumbered those claiming to have used a gun in self-defense by more than 4 to 1.

Although The National Rifle Association, America’s largest, private gun advocacy group, will argue that “Studies indicate that firearms are used over 2 million times a year for personal protection...”(Lapidos.), the Violence Policy Center (backed by data from the FBI and the National Crime Victimization Survey) reports that “…the total number of self-protective behaviors involving a firearm by victims of attempted or completed violent crimes or property crimes… comes to an annual average of 67,740.” That’s a rather large discrepancy suggesting that the number of guns actually used in self-defense is much less than the NRA would have us believe. Clearly, “as the VPC paper states, ‘guns are rarely used to kill criminals or stop crimes.’(Lapidos.)” In contrast, Americans are now more likely to die from gun violence than a car accident (Samuels.) As documented by the Gun Violence Archive, year-to-date in 2015 there have already been 7,347 deaths and 14,777 injuries. Of those deaths and injuries, 416 of them were children under the age of eleven and 1,424 were teens between the ages of twelve and

Statistics show that guns are rarely used for self-defense. Not even one percent of victims of gun violence protected themselves with a firearm. 1.4 million guns were stolen from US homes between 2005 to 2010. Gun violence roughly cost every American about $600 and the government five and a half a million dollars in lost tax revenue. Several billion dollars from the court cases. And several other things costing America a lot and it is safe to say has a huge effect on our national debt.

Dr. Roth also notes that “there may be some self-defense benefit: Victims who defended themselves with guns were less likely to report being injured than those who either defended themselves by other means or took no self-protective measures at all.” It is understandable that when one uses firearms against an intruder or a robber, they are afraid to report their injuries to the police even though it was used for self-defense. Dr. Roth also proves his statements by giving statistics, “While 33 percent of all surviving robbery victims were injured, only 25 percent of those who offered no resistance and 17 percent of those who defended themselves with guns were injured. For surviving assault victims, the corresponding injury rates were, respectively, 30 percent, 27 percent, and 12 percent.”

Now most Americans cite self-defense as their reason for owning a gun, but how often are firearms actually used for that purpose? A study found that guns are used for defensive measures approximately 2.5 million times each year, that’s only 1% use of a gun for defensive purposes. To add to that, people who use guns are 4.5% more likely to be shot in an assault than those who are unarmed (Kiger,

Some people like to shoot guns for hunting, some like to shoot them for recreation. Whatever the reason, when using guns, there are steps you need to take to be safe, whether shooting or storing them.

Further, despite the fact that gun ownership in the U.S. increased enormously during the 1990’s, there was a consistent, dramatic reduction of criminal violence. In fact, homicide and violent crime have plunged over the last 15 years. Considering that 18 of 25 countries surveyed had an increase of violent crime, America’s large decline is impressive. Moreover, Norway, Finland, Germany, France, and Denmark also have a high rate of private gun ownership, and the murder rates in these countries are as low as or lower than developed nations with less gun ownership (Kates & Mauser, 2007).

With the popular culture providing positive images of guns, the United States has a gun prevalence that is very rare in the modern world. While many people appreciate the “gun culture”, guns are heavily involved in violence in the United States. According to U.S. Department of Justice, since 1960, more than 750,000 Americans have died under firearms, including homicides, suicides, and unintentional injuries. The figure 1 provides a comprehensive survey of U.S. violent crimes for the period from 1993 to 2011.This figure illustrates that from 1993 to 2011, about 60% to 70% of homicides were associated with a firearm. Over the same period, between 6% and 9% of all nonfatal violence, with about 20% to 30% of robberies and 22% to 32% of aggravated assaults involving a firearm.

Gun control is probably one of the most debatable concerns in the constitution. There are many scenarios in which you can see the good in pro-gun control and also other scenarios where con-gun control is good. Gun control should not be a plan the U.S government should take because there are many cases in which a firearm will determine you from death or life. And the right to carry a firearm is like the right to protect our freedom, and to self defend ourselves. Firearms are used defensively roughly 2.5 million times per year, more than four times as many as criminal uses. This amounts to 2,575 lives protected for every life lost to a gun. (SAF) The people that are most concerned by this issue are those that have lost someone close to them