This Doctor says don't buy into the myth of owning a gun for self-defense:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

By Steven J. Sainsbury, M.D.


During my more than 25 years as an emergency medicine physician, I treated hundreds of patients with gunshot wounds. I treated criminals who shot each other. I treated gun owners who killed their family members in drunken rages. I pronounced dead suicide victims who shot themselves with an easily accessible handgun in their home.

Yet in all those years of emergency medicine, I never treated a single patient who was shot by a law-abiding citizen in self-protection. Not one.

Multiple reputable studies and surveys bolster what I observed: Choosing to have a gun in your home, because it will keep you safe, is a myth. And a deadly one at that.

Yet surveys of gun owners show they consistently cite self-protection as the primary reason for 67% of gun purchases. Suppose you have the same fears and obtain a handgun. Which of these two scenarios is more likely?

The whole article at the link: https://news.yahoo.com/op-ed-thinking-buying-gun-110527770.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall

[exboyfil]

1. Would burglars, robbers, and rapists be bolder if they knew

that in general the home owners are not armed? There is a bit of free rider going on for those who don't own guns. I can't quantify the number, and the overall impact of ubiquitous presence of guns is overall negative.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I have no idea if they would be more bold. Many families have alarm systems. n/t

[leftieNanner]

3. I have a large loud dog

And I think he will be more likely to stop a burglar, robber, or rapist.

Have never owned a gun and never will.

[Hoyt]

4. Last phrase -- gunz overall negative -- is key. But gun-humpers are hero wannabes, George Zimmerman

endorsed security experts, paranoid, perverted adults, often racists, etc.

Can assure everyone there are ways to protect yourself without resorting to gunz.

[AndyS]

5. The answer to your first question is a resounding NO!

Guns are one of the targets of burglars and thieves because the high resale prices and ease of sale to the illegal market.

Personal anecdote: an acquaintance's home was burglarized. The self protection gun in the nightstand was stolen. The three very valuable collector's WWII pistols in the drawer below weren't found--thief stopped when he found the 'protection gun' and never saw the $10,000 guns below it.

If anything the ubiquity of guns in America is an incentive to thieves.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. There is some truth to that, but then one would have to ask...

about the lack of petty crime in places like Jspan where hardly anyone is armed.

It is obviously not a simple subject to analyze.

[ShazzieB]

12. But do we actually KNOW that there's any truth to that?

Do we actually know that burglars are deterred because they assume people own guns? I don't think we do. I think the idea is highly debatable at best.

I will grant that a lot of people think it's true, but that in itself doesn't prove a darned thing. I mean, a lot of of people think covid is just the flu and vaccines are poison, so I don't put much weight on people's personal opinions.

[Edited for clarity.]

[TreasonousBastard]

13. We don't lnow, as number of replies here acknowledge.

[paleotn]

8. Burglers and robbers will come by when you're not home.

and steal your guns along with the rest of your shit. Ooops.

[MichMan]

6. People should put a sign on the door saying "Gun Free Home"

Criminals would see there were no guns to steal and might move on to the next house.

Just like people used to do back in the day with cars without a car stereo to deter thieves.

[George II]

9. My brother in law has several guns, he has for 50+ years. I once asked him why he has them...

....and he said "to protect myself."

So I asked him how many times he used a gun to protect himself. He said "never."

[harumph]

10. A bit of confirmation bias going on...

Often gun owners have guns in the home because they travel or go to places that
are objectively not safe.
How do you preemptively separate those with legitimate reasons who are very careful
with the weapons vs those who have them simply b/c they like them and aren't so careful - or
worse - those with mental conditions?
For a lot of reasons that I won't go into here, you can't.

[Thunderbeast]

11. We all grew up watching westerns, cop shows, and war movies.

Guns resolved all the problems in less than two hours.

[jimmy the one]

14. rise of the semi automatic, 60's - 90's

Last edited Thu Mar 3, 2022, 08:33 AM - Edit history (1)

TB: We all grew up watching westerns, cop shows, and war movies. Guns resolved all the problems in less than two hours.

Depends on when you grew up. In the 50's and 60's the dominant handgun was a revolver, today it's a semi automatic which can fire 6 to 10 or more bullets with a quick single trigger pull per each, no need to wait for a spinning cylinder to advance a bullet into the chamber (so to speak).
Similarly, a bolt action rifle was slower to load than a semi automatic rifle.
Bullets have become more lethal the past 50 years; the 22 caliber .223 bullet used by the AR15 and m16 is ten times more powerful than the 22 caliber rimfire (long or short) used by handguns and short rifles back in the day.

The revolver has not died off tho. Today, last I checked, the percentage of revolvers as part of the national gunstock is approx 20%, the same as the percentage of semi automatic handguns. Rifles and shotguns comprise the lions share of guns in america, about 60% iirc.

It was the rise of the semi automatic from the 60's thru the 90's which significantly contributed to the rise in violent crime rates and the record levels in the 80's and 90's.

I only ever owned two long guns, a 22 short ruger rifle and a 12 gauge shotgun. Got rid of them in the 80's after I left the service.
I think rather than investing in a firearm put the money into a good security system for the house (I would practice what I preach if there was much of value to steal in my place).
It would reduce the chances of accidentally 'harvesting' a family member or other human being. Put that way so gunnuts will comprehend easily.

[CTyankee]

15. The gunners know this and they say it anyway. They don't care; just don't take their precious guns away.

I don't honestly think you can argue this with a pro-gun person. I know from personal family experience that if a gun had not been present during a family argument, there would have been no loss of life. In my family experience it was a deadly mixture of anger, alcohol and availability of a loaded gun kept to keep the family "safe" that resulted in a shooting death. Had the gun not been present, that young woman would have gone on with her life.