The Big Lie

Wow, now isn’t this interesting:

Commentary: Guns for self-defense mean more costs, not more benefits

Odd, I own and carry guns because I have a firm and researched belief that guns do more good than harm. OK you’ve piqued my interest…

FBI statistics for 2010 indicate that for every justifiable homicide by a private citizen using a firearm there were approximately 50 criminal homicides with a firearm. When suicides by firearm and fatal gun accidents are considered, there were about 115 deaths through the misuse of a firearm for every justifiable homicide in which a private citizen shot and killed another in self-defense.

Hmmm, so now we’re comparing murder to justifiable homicide. Is that relevant? If I draw a gun on a mugger and they run away, or a rapist is shot by an intended victim and is rushed to the hospital and survives, is that a bad thing?

Yeah, we talk “Stopping Power” not “Killing Power”. Of course we’ve seen the REAL numbers, and guns are USED in self defense around 100,000 times per year (documented criminal reports, and likely a low number) and estimated as high as two million, which because of methodology I suspect that’s a bit high. So anybody rational can figure that the number is somewhere in between. (citation)

But wait, we have the death knell!

Many studies have shown that guns kept in the home are far more likely to be used against family members or involved in suicides or accidents than actions against intruders. In one study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Drs. Arthur L. Kellermann and Donald T. Reay found that for every self-defense homicide involving a firearm kept in the home, there were 43 suicides, criminal homicides or fatal accidents of residents.

Another study by Dr. Kellermann and his colleagues found that guns kept in the home were four times as likely to be involved in accidents, seven times as likely to be involved in criminal assaults or homicides and 11 times as likely to be involved in attempted or completed suicides than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.

If by “Many Studies” you mean, just that one Kellermann study, and Kellermann won’t even stand up for his poor work. They’re so desperate for a study that shows numbers the way they want them, that they keep dredging up this horrible piece Joyce-funded ethics violations.

Kellermann is synonymous with “Junk Science”, but is still cited daily by people looking to mislead, even 17 years after it was first discredited, and never repeated.

Oh and just for giggles:

National surveys conducted by the Injury Control Research Center and the National Opinion Research Center show that Americans, by a wide margin, feel less safe when they believe that more people in their community are acquiring or carrying guns.

Never read this survey, but when shown this image most people will FEEL that the right line is longer. Doesn’t matter how well or poorly this study was doing, the end result is garbage…oh and so is this article.

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0 Responses to The Big Lie

  1. Jack says:

    So what other fundamental rights should be infringed based on the feelings of others? If enough of the population feel unsafe with a certian religion in their community can they be banned too?

    And even if accurate the Kellerman study is a woeful example of causality versus correlation. It’s like saying bank robbers tend to be found around banks, therefore banks are to blame.

    Then again, the CSGV does blame the victims of spousal abuse, and the same people that think guns cause crime and suicides *are* the same people who think forks cause obesity and want to regulate where fast food resturants can be placed and what supermarkets are allowed to sell.

  2. bluesun says:

    “Because, FUCK YOU.”

    No other reason needed.

  3. Bob S. says:

    They have cause and effect backwards — or something.

    It isn’t “Hey, that guy shot someone in self Defense, let’s go out and kill 50 people now”.

    It is because there are so many murders that people are increasingly arming themselves.

    Two national surveys by Harvard’s Injury Control Research Center found that respondents, over a five-year period, were three to four times more likely to report hostile gun displays at them than to report self-defense gun uses.

    Wonder if they screened out the criminals being scared off by a Defensive Gun Use.

    And what do they say about the fact that homicides continue to fall as more people carry?

    As usual, nothing.

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