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In reply to the discussion: So what's wrong with home security systems? [View all]pscot
(21,024 posts)86. Look, I don't deny it happens
But you have one incident, 8 years ago. I did some looking too and it's surprising how few of these there are. Nobody keeps track in rural areas, and cops generally don't see it as a special case. That tells you something right there. These guys did an 18 month study in three big towns. They looked at all gun deaths. Check it out.
OBJECTIVE: Determine the relative frequency with which guns in the home are used to injure or kill in self-defense, compared with the number of times these weapons are involved in an unintentional injury, suicide attempt, or criminal assault or homicide.
METHODS: We reviewed the police, medical examiner, emergency medical service, emergency department, and hospital records of all fatal and nonfatal shootings in three U.S. cities: Memphis, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; and Galveston, Texas.
RESULTS: During the study interval (12 months in Memphis, 18 months in Seattle, and Galveston) 626 shootings occurred in or around a residence. This total included 54 unintentional shootings, 118 attempted or completed suicides, and 438 assaults/homicides. Thirteen shootings were legally justifiable or an act of self-defense, including three that involved law enforcement officers acting in the line of duty. For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.
CONCLUSIONS: Guns kept in homes are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9715182
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There are almost as many tales of successful home defense as accidental gun-related homicides
Orrex
Jan 2013
#117
Saw a PBS documentary on the evolution of dogs from wolves a while back...
markpkessinger
Jan 2013
#139
If it takes the cops 15 minutes to get to your house, a home security system isn't going to get them
Brickbat
Jan 2013
#2
And we all know there are armed ruffians roaming about attacking schools
The Straight Story
Jan 2013
#16
He provided links to prove it. Guess *he's* not the one that's full of shit...
friendly_iconoclast
Jan 2013
#136
If guns are the most important thing in the world to these people who will vote GOP
AndyA
Jan 2013
#39
I think you will find yourself in the minority among democrats if you are against the 2nd.
Puzzledtraveller
Jan 2013
#103
We have an ADT security system and guns ...by request of my wife ...who keeps track ...
L0oniX
Jan 2013
#5
Nothing that isn't fixed by the addition of claymore mines to the lot's boundaries
HereSince1628
Jan 2013
#8
What a clever way you have of ignoring the obvious point that I was making.
Arkansas Granny
Jan 2013
#38
He's not calling the poster a liar; he's saying that the anecdote is unbelievable
Orrex
Jan 2013
#65
I never claimed to know everything, but I can spot a fishy-sounding story a mile away
Orrex
Jan 2013
#104
Why would the phrase "he identified himself as a cop" make you think he was
Common Sense Party
Jan 2013
#110
That is one damned agile burglar, was it one of those portable televisions he was watching?
CBGLuthier
Jan 2013
#83
The more home security systems there are, the more often they will malfunction.
randome
Jan 2013
#30
They're expensive to buy, more expensive to keep, and they don't work. n/t
Egalitarian Thug
Jan 2013
#45
What, do you sell them? Out here where I live, not one thing you said is true.
Egalitarian Thug
Jan 2013
#128
I'm rather fond of poisonous gas myself, "kill'm like cockroaches!" I'd say, but that's illegal.
hunter
Jan 2013
#56