Reply #122: Whatever the answer, a simple measure of DGUs is not helpful

[jgraz]

It's basically the "if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" syndrome. If someone is carrying a concealed weapon, there is a higher likelihood that they will use the weapon instead of exploring other options for preventing the crime (e.g. calling the police).

Here are the truly interesting questions about DGUs:

• How many reported DGU incidents actually required a weapon for a positive outcome?


• How many attempted DGUs resulted in an escalation of the crime (e.g. a dead or wounded gun owner instead of merely a robbed gun owner)?


• How often did the presence of a weapon result in a more violent outcome for the aggressor (e.g. dead or wounded instead of merely deterred)?


• How many OGUs (offensive gun uses) or AGUs (accidental gun uses) resulted from the same access to these firearms?

These are difficult questions to answer but without this information, even an accurate survey of DGUs tells us very little.