Challenging the Myth That Guns Stop Crime

Charts: Challenging the Myth That Guns Stop Crime
—By Josh Harkinson
Fri Apr. 19, 2013 3:00 AM PDT
One of the gun lobby's favorite talking points is that America's arsenal of 300 million civilian firearms makes us safer by preventing millions of crimes. This contentious idea has taken fire as of late for relying on bogus stats and ignoring that most criminal shootings involve people who know each other, not gun-toting homeowners and midnight intruders. A new report from Violence Policy Center shoots even more holes in the argument that a well-armed society is a safer society.
The report finds that less than 3 percent of gun-related homicides are committed in self-defense.

Gun Homicides, 20108,275Criminalhomicides97.3%Justifiablehomicides2.7%
The gun lobby often claims that firearms are used for self-defense an estimated 2.5 million times a year. But according to the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey, the actual number is just a fraction of that:

Uses of guns for self defense,2007-11Gun lobby's claim According to federal crime data 04,000,0008,000,00012,000,000
Guns are used for self defense (both successfully and unsuccessfully) by less than 1 percent of all violent crime victims:

Crime victims who used guns,2007-11Crime victims Crime victims who used gun in selfdefense 07,500,00015,000,00022,500,00030,000,000
The typical gun is more likely to be stolen than to be used in an attempt to stop a crime:

Guns used for self defense vs.guns stolen (annual average)Self defense*Thefts of guns** 50,000100,000150,000200,000250,000
*Average per year, 2007-2011 / **Average per year, 2005-2010
In another twist on the self-defense argument, the NRA likes to claim that women in particular need guns to guard against bullies and rapists. But crime statistics unearthed by the Violence Policy Center indicate that only about 10 percent of those who shoot people in self defense are women:
Justifiable gun homicides by gender of shooter, 2010MenWomen060120180

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/04/charts-debunking-myth-guns-self-defense

 

Challenging the Myth That Background Checks Stop School Shootings
Still waiting for your answers, Teddy!

 

No one really gives a damn what you have to say anymore, Little Joe.

 

I'm sure that you never did but for some reason you just find it hard to ignore me. So I guess that proves your assertion to be false.

 

I could ignore you with a push of a button. I don't want to ignore you, I simply don't give a damn what you have to say.

 

And the distinction is......????? If you even tried to ignore me you couldn't. On the other hand, I read your posts, I just don't have any respect for your opinions.

 

Neither the medical profession nor the legal community consider your opinion valid. Maybe you should catch a clue? I ran across that somewhere and thought that you might know what it means.

 

This study proves that the NRA's claims are and have been a bunch of crap. The NRA turns out to be the biggest suppliers of weapons to criminals, mentally unstable people and terrorists. They willfully lie and the idiot minority of gun freaks worship them as gods. They go to their conventions, join their organization, and support them financially all the while being complicit in supplying the most dangerous people in our country with deadly weapons. How sad that you nuts are too ignorant to even see your own complicity while hiding behind a great piece if paper like the Constitution. You are all so Un-American that it is pathetic you get to enjoy the same freedoms the rest of us responsibly enjoy. Do the rest of us a favor and go live elsewhere.

 

Are you really saying that we are "Un-American" for trying to follow the Constitution? Really?

 

We've had 2 cases, just this past week, where an armed homeowner thwarted a robbery. In one, an 80 year old man shot the robber (wounded him, didn't kill him) & escaped to call 911. As it turns out, the robber he shot was the same guy who broke into an old ladies home a few days earlier & robbed & beat her. In the other, a guy confronted a robber who was trying to get into his back door. The guy fled but ended up being caught a little later. That guy had a long, violent record.
Now the libs may not be happy these 2 victims were armed but alot of other people sure are. Now I know lil joe moen will dismiss this as "antecdotal evidence" but these are real world examples that, sadly, weren't widely reported in the media.

 

The same Constitution that you despise is the same one that guarantees my right to bear firearms and guarantees my right to tell you to go screw yourself. I thank the Founding Fathers and their brilliant wisdom for instituting a government that guarantees my Creator-given rights. A few days ago I called you a pathetic little worm. Actually, I think you're an un-American, pathetic little worm.

 

If Little Joe thinks that being a good American is to be a mindless, goose-stepping lemming then he must think he's the greatest American of all.

 

Another example of the left's lies to promote their ends.
“Now, over the next couple of months, we’ve got a couple of issues: gun control,” Obama said. “I just came from Denver, where the issue of gun violence is something that has haunted families for way too long, and it is possible for us to create common-sense gun safety measures that respect the traditions of gun ownership in this country and hunters and sportsmen, but also make sure that we don’t have another 20 children in a classroom gunned down by a semiautomatic weapon — by a fully automatic weapon in that case, sadly.”
I could have been a mistake, but with his track record, I suspect it was an on purpose.

 

I just heard an interesting tidbit. It seem you and BO bought the bomb for the Tsarnaevs. Yep! We paid for it. I guess they had nothing better to do when the government kept paying them welfare.