Comments on: Security increases after grad student attack off campus

By: Gregorz Kurwa

Gregorz Kurwa — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:50:31 +0000

mdh, as David was saying, guns are used plenty of times for self-defense. It’s just not usually seen as something worth reporting. “Man pulls gun out and would-be robber walks away” is a boring headline.

According to these guys (http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/KleckAndGertz1.htm), Americans use guns for self-defense somewhere between 1 million and 2.5 million times a year, saving somewhere around 400,000 lives per year.

I found another study by a police organization that used the same methods and said their results were consistent with Kleck and Gertz’s.

However, they criticized the methodology as being geared towards false positives. So…let’s call it 10% of that. 100k defensive gun uses per year, with “only” 40,000 lives saved. That’s still more than all deaths from guns last year, including suicides (which make up the majority of gun deaths).

David’s link is a collection of anecdotes; mine is the boring statistics.

Enjoy.

0 0

By: David

David — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:05:21 +0000

mdh, this blog is dedicated to linking to news stories in which a gun was used in a positive manner for defense: http://www.thearmedcitizen.com/

As you can see, they make several posts each day.

0 0

By: Gerald Urban

Gerald Urban — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:55:09 +0000

Sadly, violent crime is a reality of living in an urban community. Usually law enforcement doesn’t get involved until after the crime and you’ve become a statistic! Students need to take responsibility for their own personal safety. There are many inexpensive non-lethal personal protection devices available for purchase online. Having some form of personal protection can provide you the few seconds needed to escape and get help. Most cheaper than the cost of a beer tab at one of the bars in the loop.
Crime Is Real, Don’t Be a Victim!

0 0

By: mdh

mdh — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:22:25 +0000

Question for the handgun proponents: when was the last time you read a story about someone who was attacked, but who managed to either escape or deter his/her attacker by means of a gun?

I’ve heard that kind of story once, and it was this past summer in NYC — an elderly shop owner had a SHOTgun under the counter and he killed 3 teenagers robbing his store.

Other than that, I can’t think of any instance where a gun was helpful during an attack.

0 0

By: David

David — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:00:29 +0000

It’s a good point Gregorz. And forget carrying a gun to campus, how about just having one in your apartment? Quadrangle, in particular, forbids the keeping of firearms. Seems insane, especially for grad students. We’ve got some of the smartest people in the world doing research here, and their landlord doesn’t think they can be trusted to keep a firearm safe? Makes no sense.

0 0

By: Gregorz Kurwa

Gregorz Kurwa — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:20:20 +0000

I live off-campus. I’d feel a lot safer if I could carry my licensed handgun to and from campus instead of relying on my cell phone. Ah well. Hopefully the cops will get there in time to take fingerprints.

0 0