Guns Are Used For Self Defense

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.

In 1989, a ban on guns was put into effect in California. Over the next five years there was a twenty-six percent spike in murders related to guns. But since 1991, when the nation’s murder rate peaked, the murder rate has begun dropping drastically even though the number of gun owners has increased dramatically (“A Ban On Assault”). In addition, studies done between 2009 and 2014 show that the number of violent crimes involving guns are nine times lower than ones involving knives, blunt objects, and assaults with an unarmed assailant.

According to "Gun Violence Archive 2015 Toll of Gun Violence” there has been a total of 48,677 incidents involving a firearm in America this year (2015). The number of deaths this year from gun violence is 12,323, while the number of injuries (24,890) is almost double the number of deaths (Gun Violence Archive 2015). The number of children (ages 0-11 years old) killed or injured due to gun violence is 645, while the number of teenagers (ages 12-17 years old) killed or injured is 2,440 (Gun Violence Archive 2015). The number of mass shootings in 2015 is 310 (Gun Violence Archive 2015). The number of officer-involved incidents is 4,060, and home invasion incidents 2,093 (Gun Violence Archive 2015). The number of times a firearm was used in self-defense

According to the National Rifle Association guns are used for self defence 2.5 million times a year. Police may not be able to protect everyone at all times so people need to have a way of self defence. Some reports have found that 79% of male gun owners and 80% of female gun owners say that they feel a lot safer owning a gun and 64% living in a home that someone else owns a gun say that they feel safer. In the article, Gun control laws infringe upon the right to self-defence and deny people a sense of safety, says “Constitutions in 37 US states protect the right to bear arms for self defence, most with explicit language such as Alabama’s: every citizen has the right to bear arms in defence of himself and the state.”

Because they don’t know what else to do, many people believe eliminating guns would solve the problem of 30,000 Americans dying due to shootings. However, these gun control advocates do not look at all the statistics. Firearms are also tools of self-defense, not only tools of murder. Stories of self-defense are far less common than the gun crime stories that generally make the headlines. However, according to criminologist Dr. Gary Kleck, there are “2.5 million cases of guns used for self defense annually, compared to 0.5 million gun crimes” (qtd. in Loesch 219). This means that firearms were used five times more to defend against crimes than to commit crimes. Another researched report done by the United States Centers for Disease Control and

Many believe or buy into the whole argument of guns being used as self defense purposes. But studies show that, that’s actually not the case. In the study, Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use, shows that private citizens are far more likely to use guns to damage others or themselves than to utilize them to execute in self-defense. Only 259 valid homicides involving a private citizen using a firearm and those 13 states reported zero justifiable firearm homicides that year. That same year, there were 8,342 criminal firearm homicides.( Cathie Whittenburg)

One of the most common arguments for having the right to bear arms is for self defense purposes. Most people actually do not use guns as self defense. In 2011, only 0.79% victims out of 29,618,300 protected themselves using a gun as self defense. People are more likely to use guns in homicides than they are for self defense. “In 2010. . . [there was] 36 criminal homicides for every ‘justifiable homicide’”(Gun Control). In 2007 through 2011, “the total number of self protective behavior involving a firearm by victims of attempted or completed violent crimes or property crimes totaled only 338,700” (Lapidos). Though many claim that guns are necessary for self defense, it isn’t that common to American citizens to use it for that purpose.

Guns in the hands of prospective victims of violence can deter criminal attempts or disrupt crimes once they are attempted, thereby exerting a violence-reducing effect. Oddly enough, guns in the hands of aggressors also have certain violence-reducing effects, along with the more obvious violence-increasing effects. The power which weaponry confers has conventionally been treated as exclusively violence-enhancing - it has commonly been assumed that weapon possession and use serves only to increase the likelihood of the victim 's injury and death (e.g. Newton and Zimring 1969).

some people take self defense classes to protect themselves from kidnap, fight , or rob. But, some people carry gun instead of leanings how to fight. In united stairs carry gun is legal, because It legals, there are shooting in many place such as school, concert, or movie theater. That is why there are some augment about gun control. People thought that gun should be carried around like bottle of water. However I believe that carry gun is a big source of self defense, it protects people from rape and rob.

Defense or Deadly Killers? Introduction There are presently in excess of 200 million guns in the United States, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Each year this number grows in America. Most of them keep guns for protection. The others keep them for hunting by 4 to 5 million. There are 60 to 65 million legal owners of one or more guns.1 There is a firearm on the premises of more than half the households, target shooting, collecting, and similar pursuits. In recent years, nearly 35,000 people have been killed annually by guns in the United States. These deaths include 15,000 murders, 18,000 suicides, and 1,500 accidents.2 It is because of these statistics that many would like to ban guns altogether. But is that really in your best interest? Would it really benefit this country, or reduce the number of murders in this country? Consider the evidence in this article and you will see that guns should not be outlawed and that less gun control in necessary to preserve what the founders of this country believed in. Guns are Beneficial Guns can help prevent crime. This is a view held by many opponents to gun control. The criminals themselves agree. As part of a three - year study by the U. S. Department of Justice, criminals in prisons across the nation were interviewed. Sixty percent feared being shot by an armed citizen more than being shot by the police. fifty - three percent did not commit a specific crime because they were afraid the victim was armed.

People can defend themselves against someone who is trying to hurt others. Eighty percent of people defending themselves used a gun in self defense. A quarter of these gun defenses happened away from home where a concealed weapon was needed. When a test was conducted, over half of the people interviewed suggested that safe citizens keep firearms around so that civilians can defend themselves all day, every day. Some citizens are afraid that with both concealed and unconcealed weapons, that people will be influenced to harm each other. In a survey of 15,000 officers, over 85% of them said that people should have concealed weapons, but they must have a permit. In one year the nation's overall crime rate dropped 6.4% when more gun laws were present and enforced. The website, Handgun Control, Inc. mentioned “ Allowing people to carry concealed weapons does not mean less crime”. If citizens start using their freedom with guns in America more people will be open to the idea of having concealed weapons (Staff).

Guns are supposedly used to save lives but mostly guns are used 430,000 times a year to commit crimes, but 2,000,000 to 2,500,00 times a year in self-defense to prevent deaths, rapes, assaults and other serious injuries. In 98% of the situations, the victims just brandished a gun and in only 2% of the cases was the gun actually fired, usually just as a

A private survey was conducted by David Hemenway and Deborah Azrael from the Harvard Injury Control Research Center that asked questions about the use of guns in defensive and offensive situations; like if they had been robbed lately and if so what they did in response to the crime. (The Relative Frequency of Offensive and Defensive Gun Uses: Results From a National Survey, 2000). They conducted the survey through a random-digit-dial telephone system that randomly called people’s houses to ask them “In the past five years, have you used a gun in self-defense to protect yourself from a person or people? “and “In the past five years, has anyone displayed or brought out a gun in a hostile manner, even if this event did not take place during the commission of a crime?” If a person gave a positive response it then leads to more questions about the incident. According to the results from the survey most of the people that participated in it reported a gun being used on them more than people reported using a gun in a self-defense situation. The table provided in the article shows that fourteen people reported a total of 54 incidents where they had to use a gun in a self-defense situation, 58 people reported a total of 112 incidents where they were showed a gun in a hostile situation, 21 people reported 37 incidents where a gun was used on them in a planned crime, 24 people reported 55 incidents where a gun was used in a

Gun violence includes armed citizens using guns to defend themselves and their families, police using guns to stop criminals, hunters accidentally shooting themselves or others in the fields, and people using guns to take away their own lives. Gun violence is a disease and is gutting the United States of America (WAPNER 48).According to The Trace, approximately 93 Americans die from a gunshot wound. In 2014 alone, there were an estimated 33,000 gun deaths and 81,000 nonfatal gun injuries (“These 14 Facts Are Crucial to Understanding Gun Violence in America”). Also, more than11, 000 Americans are killed in assault involving guns annually, with at least 50,000 more injured (WAPNER 48). In addition, between the ages of 15 and 24, nine of every 100,000 lives end due to a gun homicide. About 65 of every 100,000 people in this age group are injured by gun assaults every year (WAPNER 48).

In 2011, approximately 467,321 people were victims of a crime committed with a gun. Guns are used in about 66% of murder cases, 41% of robbery offences, and 21% of all aggravated assault cases. If individual people did not have access to guns, there is no doubt that the rate of all of these crimes would significantly drop. Some people argue that theses crimes will continue to occur with a gun because only approximately 3% of all crimes