Will more handguns being carried for self-defense save more lives or cost more lives?

[Starboard Tack]

Poll question: Will more handguns being carried for self-defense save more lives or cost more lives?

Using a gun in self-defense is no more likely to reduce the chance of being injured during a crime than various other forms of protective action.
Of the 30,694 Americans who died by gunfire in 2005, only 147 were shot in
justifiable homicides by private citizens with firearms.

Of the 13,636 Americans who were murdered in 2009, only 215 were killed by firearms (165 by handguns) in homicides by private citizens that law enforcement determined were justifiable.

A study reviewing surveys of gun use in the U.S. determined that most self-reported self-defense gun uses may well be illegal and against the interests of society.
http://www.lcav.org/statistics-polling/gun_violence_statistics.asp