Quote:
Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck
Well, it's hard to have a discussion about gun defense when one side denies/minimizes the basic purpose of the firearm in the first place....but if the numbers are flawed projections then fine.
Aside from those 3-4 sources of gun defense stats in America, the only other one I can find is from the CDC.
They say gun defense actions occur about 498,000 times/year... Even with this more conservative estimate, ...that is still a staggering number. The point I was making is that gun defense actions far, far outweigh any gun crimes commited by legal gun owners, and that citizen gun owners pose little threat to society (as per my previous post showing crime conviction rates for CHL holders in Texas).
|
No one has minimized the basic purpose of having a gun. People buy them to protect themselves for the most part. That is why they buy them. However, they ARE primarily used for harm.
I cannot find that CDC statistic. I've looked and it doesn't seem to exist, so unless you can provide a source, I'm gonna guess it's bunk too.
There are valid reasons to argue for gun ownership, but self defense just isn't one. If any of those numbers are true, the US becomes ridiculously violent. 16% of criminal acts using guns were done by legal gun owners. That ain't much I will concede. But these weren't illegally manufactured guns, either. More control to prevent this diversion of guns would be good, no?
Another interesting tidbit: If these numbers are to be believed, in right-to-carry states, if you add the current crime rates to those violent crimes that are suddenly now prevented, the crime rate suddenly triples/quadruples!