The myth of gun ownership and home defense.

Courtesy of Politico:  

In 1992, Gary Kleck and Marc Getz, criminologists at Florida State University, conducted a random digit-dial survey to establish the annual number of defensive gun uses in the United States. They surveyed 5,000 individuals, asking them if they had used a firearm in self-defense in the past year and, if so, for what reason and to what effect. Sixty-six incidences of defensive gun use were reported from the sample. The researchers then extrapolated their findings to the entire U.S. population, resulting in an estimate of between 1 million and 2.5 million defensive gun uses per year. 

The claim has since become gospel for gun advocates and is frequently touted by the National Rifle Association, pro-gun scholars such as John Lott and conservative politicians. The argument typically goes something like this: Guns are used defensively “over 2 million times every year—five times more frequently than the 430,000 times guns were used to commit crimes.” Or, as Gun Owners of America states, “firearms are used more than 80 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives.” Former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has frequently opined on the benefits of defensive gun use, explaining: “In fact, there are millions of lives that are saved in America every year, or millions of instances like that where gun owners have prevented crimes and stopped things from happening because of having guns at the scene.” 

It may sound reassuring, but is utterly false. In fact, gun owners are far more likely to end up like Theodore Wafer or Eusebio Christian, accidentally shooting an innocent person or seeing their weapons harm a family member, than be heroes warding off criminals.

The article points out a number of ways in which the criminologist misrepresented and extrapolated their data in order to reach such ridiculous numbers.

And then goes on to point out the following:

For example, guns were allegedly used in self-defense in 845,000 burglaries, according to Kleck and Getz. However, from reliable victimization surveys, we know that there were fewer than 1.3 million burglaries where someone was in the home at the time of the crime, and only 33 percent of these had occupants who weren’t sleeping. From surveys on firearm ownership, we also know that 42 percent of U.S. households owned firearms at the time of the survey. Even if burglars only rob houses of gun owners, and those gun owners use their weapons in self-defense every single time they are awake, the 845,000 statistic cited in Kleck and Gertz’s paper is simply mathematically impossible. 

Of course here at IM we have reported on the almost stunning number of times that guns purchased for protection instead killed or badly wounded the owner or a member of their families. 

Some of them are almost humorous, while others are tragically sad.

The facts are that owning a gun does NOT statistically make you safer than a non-gun owner, however it does dramatically increase the possibility that you yourself, or a loved one, will be shot with that firearm.

I have said it before, but it bears repeating, the best deterrent against burglary is a good dog.

And might I add that dogs are MUCH less likely to go off accidentally and take off somebody's finger. I am not saying it doesn't ever happen, just that it is much less likely.

Gun Owners of America head says they will not be satisfied until we get rid of all of the gun laws in America. Blames recent killings on "gun free zones."

Courtesy of HuffPo:

 Guns don't kill people. Gun laws kill people, argued Larry Pratt, head of Gun Owners of America, on Fox News Sunday. 

Host Chris Wallace asked Pratt if the complete inability of Congress to pass any gun safety legislation in the year since the Newtown massacre counted as a victory for the gun lobby. 

"We're not really going to be able to talk about a victory until we get rid of the laws that prohibit people from having guns to protect themselves in schools and in other places," Pratt said. "Every one of our mass murders in our country has occurred in places where guns were prohibited." 

Wallace seemed a bit surprised at the answer, which was delivered after he aired an emotional interview with Carlee Soto, whose older sister Vicki was murdered while shielding her students at Sandy Hook Elementary School, ultimately saving 11 of their lives. Wallace asked Pratt if he was saying that the gun lobby planned to go on offense and press for repeal of laws currently in place. 

"That is correct, Chris. The legislation that is on the books is lethal. It is killing people. All of these gun free zones are murder magnets. We've simply got to get rid of them. It's an illusion that somehow we're going to be safer in a particular area because you can't have a gun, because the bad guy is going to have a gun," he said.

If that does not make you sick to your stomach you may not be human. 

The canard that if you make owning guns illegal only criminals will have guns is complete and utter bullshit. The fact is that illegal guns are often stolen from gun owners who purchased them legally and then used on innocent people.

Simple math tells you that more guns equals more gun violence, and the idea that increasing the number of guns and making access to them easier, as a deterrent against gun violence is the thinking of a madman.

Racism linked to gun ownership.

Courtesy of Futurity:  

A new study finds higher levels of racism in white Americans is associated with having a gun in the home and greater opposition to gun control policies. 

After accounting for numerous other factors such as income, education, and political ideology, the researchers found that for each one point increase (on a scale from one to five) in symbolic racism there was a 50 percent increase in the odds of having a gun in the home and a 28 percent increase in support for policies allowing people to carry concealed guns. 

Each one point increase in symbolic racism (a modern measure of anti-black racism) was also associated with a 27 percent increase in the odds of opposing bans on hand guns in the home. After accounting for those who already had a gun in the home, the odds were reduced to a non-significant 17 percent increase. However, the authors note that this reduction is unsurprising as opposition to bans on guns equates to self interest on behalf of those who already own a gun and do not wish to give it up. 

And racism was already strongly associated with having a gun in the home.

Cannot say I am surprised by this one.

Considering this is it any wonder that gun sales spiked as soon as an African American moved into the White House?

Father arrested and charged with five counts of second-degree child endangerment after his 4 year old kills his six year old neighbor with a unsecured gun.

Courtesy of Slate:  

In April, a 4-year-old New Jersey boy accidentally shot and killed his 6-year-old neighbor with his father’s .22-caliber rifle. On Monday, the boy’s father, Anthony Senatore, was arrested and charged with five counts of second-degree child endangerment (for storing five unsecured firearms in places where they were accessible to his children), and one count of third-degree child endangerment (for storing one of those firearms in a place where it endangered the welfare of the 6-year-old who was killed). Each second-degree count could potentially bring 5 to 10 years in prison, which means that if Senatore is convicted, he could theoretically face up to 50 years in prison. (He won’t, of course, get 50 years in prison, but, if he is convicted, he will likely face some jail time—if you are convicted of a second-degree offense in New Jersey, it is presumed that you will face a prison term.)

This is the kind of gun laws that we need to enforce all over the country.

And in my opinion NOT just for parents who allow their guns to fall into the hands of children, but also gun owners who do not sufficiently lock their guns away in their homes to keep them out of the reach of burglars who may steal them and use them in crimes or sell them on the streets to other criminals.

In my opinion the purchasing of each and every gun by an American citizen should bring with it a whole slew of responsibilities, and potential problems, that would make the purchaser think long and hard about whether they needed that gun at all, and just how many guns they were willing to take responsibility for.

I can guarantee that if the laws surrounding gun ownership were tightened up we would RARELY see people with arsenals of weapons in their homes anymore.

New study totally refutes claim that gun ownership keeps people safe.

Courtesy of Violence Policy Center:  

VPC Executive Director and study co-author Josh Sugarmann states, “The idea that ordinary citizens need access to extraordinary firepower in order to adequately defend themselves against criminals has become the default argument against a federal assault weapons ban and limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines. This new data exposes the fallacy of such arguments and clearly demonstrates that the frequency with which guns are used in self-defense in the real world has nothing in common with pro-gun assertions that firearms are used millions of times each year to kill criminals or stop crimes. In fact, a gun is far more likely to be stolen than used in self-defense.” 

Key findings of the 19-page study include the following. 

Firearm Justifiable Homicides by Private Citizens Occur Rarely 

In 2010, across the nation there were only 230 justifiable homicides involving a private citizen using a firearm reported to the FBI. That same year, there were 8,275 criminal gun homicides. Using these numbers, in 2010, for every justifiable homicide in the United States involving a gun, guns were used in 36 criminal homicides. This ratio does not take into account the thousands of lives ended in gun suicides (19,392) or unintentional shootings (606) that year. 

Firearms are Rarely Used in Self-Defense by Victims of Attempted or Completed Violent Crimes 

For victims of both attempted and completed violent crimes, for the five-year period 2007 through 2011 in only 0.8 percent of these instances did the intended victim in resistance to a criminal engage in a self-protective behavior that involved a firearm. For the five-year period 2007 through 2011, the National Crime Victimization Survey estimates that there were 29,618,300 victims of attempted or completed violent crimes. During this same five-year period, only 235,700 of the self-protective behaviors involved a firearm. Of this number, it is not known what type of firearm was used or whether it was fired or not. The number may also include off-duty law enforcement officers who use their firearms in self-defense. 

Firearms are Rarely Used in Self-Defense by Victims of Attempted or Completed Property Crimes 

For victims of both attempted and completed property crimes, for the five-year period 2007 through 2011 in only 0.1 percent of these instances did the intended victim in resistance to a criminal engage in a self-protective behavior that involved a firearm. For the five-year period 2007 through 2011, the National Crime Victimization Survey estimates that there were 84,495,500 victims of attempted or completed property crimes. During this same five-year period, only 103,000 of the self-protective behaviors involved a firearm. Of this number, it is not known what type of firearm was used, whether it was fired or not, or whether the use of a gun would even be a legal response to the property crime. And that number as well may also include off-duty law enforcement officers. In comparison, new data from the Department of Justice shows that an average of 232,400 guns were stolen each year from U.S. households from 2005 to 2010. 

Total Number of Actual Self-Defense Firearm Uses are Only a Small Fraction of Pro-Gun Claims 

According to the NCVS, for the five-year period 2007 through 2011, the total number of self-protective behaviors involving a firearm by victims of attempted or completed violent crimes or property crimes totaled only 338,700. In comparison, the gun lobby claims that during the same five-year period guns were used 12.5 million times in self-defense (applying to the five-year period the gun lobby’s oft-repeated claim that firearms are used in self-defense 2.5 million times a year). 

More than a Third of Persons Shot and Killed in Justifiable Homicides in 2010 Were Known to the Shooter 

In 2010, 35.7 percent (82 of 230) of persons killed in a firearm justifiable homicide were known to the shooter, 56.5 percent (130) were strangers, and in 7.8 percent (18) the relationship was unknown.

I don't think I have anything more to add to this data, but I encourage you to read it and disseminate it far and wide.

The only hope we have of EVER passing some effective gun legislation in this country is to educate those who are on the fence about gun ownership, as the gun nuts are essentially immune to facts or logic. Once people know that the NRA and gun lobbyists are essentially lying to them, perhaps we can start to have a real impact on public opinion and do something to reduce the number of guns in the hands of lunatics and the effectiveness of those guns to massacre great numbers of our fellow citizens

Florida man fires gun into car of escaping shoplifter in order to "mark" the man's car. Surprised when he gets arrested.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

A gun owner in Florida was arrested on Wednesday after he opened fire at a suspected Walmart shoplifter because he said he felt threatened and wanted to “mark” the man’s car for police. 

As unarmed 42-year-old Eddie McKee allegedly ran from an Orange City Walmart with stolen merchandise, 35-year-old Jose Martinez pulled out his gun and fired at least five bullets, according to WKMG. 

“I saw one black gentleman running from the parking lot, he dove in his car,” a caller told 911. “And there were two older gentlemen chasing him down. One drew a gun, ripped open the guys car door and screamed, ‘Freeze, freeze, don’t move!’ And then fired shots.” 

Bullets riddled McKee’s vehicle, hitting the trunk and shattering the back window. Two other cars were also hit by gunfire. 

Martinez told WKMG that he was shocked that police arrested him because he thought no one other than the shoplifter was in danger. He said he just wanted to mark the man’s car for police. 

Orange City police argued that surveillance video showed that the gun owner was never in danger because McKee was in the process of fleeing when the shooting occurred. 

Yeah who would have ever thought that firing indiscriminately into traffic would be considered a bad idea?

Some of these asswipes carry those guns around just hoping for the opportunity to go all John Wayne and shoot some  guy that they think has given them an excuse to end their life. If successful this idiot would have given a death sentence to a man who probably will only be convicted of a misdemeanor.

You know the guy that shoplifted and knocked that lady over is certainly no victim here, but the idea of firing numerous shots in a crowded parking lot because you feel you have the right to do so in response to criminal behavior is EXACTLY why supporting the arming everyday citizens is simply a ridiculous, and dangerous, idea.

Having Facebook friends from the Bible Belt can be very eye opening, and a little sad.

This is not from my Facebook account, fortunately I don't have anybody quite this nutty, but it apparently has shown up on numerous other Facebook accounts and I have received it in e-mails multiple times.

I don't even know where to begin with something like this, but it does raise the question as to how a religion dedicated to the teachings by a man identified as the "Prince of Peace," could also embrace gun ownership so aggressively?