Guns and Crime Prevention
Myth: Private ownership of guns is not effective in preventing crime Fact: “Victims who have and use guns have both lower losses and lesser injury rates from violent crime.” Fact: Every year, people in the United States use guns to defend themselves against criminals an estimated 2,500,000 times – more than 6,500 people a day, or once every 13 seconds. Of these instances, 15.7% of the people using firearms defensively stated that they “almost certainly” saved their lives by doing so. Fact: Even the government’s estimate, which has a major methodology problem, estimates people defend themselves 235,700 times each year with guns. Fact: Victims with guns “would reduce … the criminals’ incentives to commit violent crimes and to be armed.” Fact: The number of times per year an American uses a firearm to deter a home invasion alone is 498,000. Fact: In 83.5% (2,087,500) of these successful gun defenses, the attacker either threatened … Continue reading →