Posted on 03/13/2009 10:44:20 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
This is a great resource full of DOCUMENTED, PEER-REVIEWED data, some of straight from the US Department of Justice, with an annotated bibliography.
Be prepared to shove facts down their throats, when they only have "feelings."
Here are few excerpts:
Fact: Every year, people in the United States use a gun to defend themselves against criminals an estimated 2,500,000 times – more than 6,500 people a day, or once every 13 seconds.112 Of these instances, 15.6% of the people using a firearm defensively stated that they "almost certainly" saved their lives by doing so.
Fact: Firearms are used 60 times more often to protect lives than to take lives.
Fact: In 83.5% (2,087,500) of these successful gun defenses, the attacker either threatened or used force first, proving that guns are very well suited for self-defense.
Fact: Of the 2,500,000 times citizens use guns to defend themselves, 92% merely brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their attackers.
Fact: Less than 8% of the time does a citizen wound his or her attacker, and in less than one in a thousand instances is the attacker killed.
Fact: For every accidental death, suicide, or homicide with a firearm, 10 lives are saved through defensive use. 114Fact: When using guns in self-defense:
• 83% of robbery victims were not injured.
• 88% of assault victims were not hurt.
• 76% of all self-defense use of guns never involve firing a single shot.
Fact: After the implementation of Canada's 1977 gun controls prohibiting handgun possession for protection, the “breaking and entering” crime rate rose 25%, surpassing the American rate.
Myth: Only police should have guns
Fact: “...most criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police.
Fact: 11% of police shootingskill an innocent person - about 2% of shootings by citizens kill an innocent person.
Fact: Police have trouble keeping their own guns. Hundreds of firearms are missing from the FBI and 449 of them have been involved in crimes.118
Fact: People who saw the helplessness of the L.A. Police Department during the 1992 King Riots or the looting and violence in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina know that citizens need guns to defend themselves.
Myth: You are more likely to be injured or killed using a gun for self-defense
Fact: You are far more likely to survive a violent assault if you defend yourself with a gun. In episodes where a robbery victim was injured, the injury/defense rates were:119
• Resisting with a gun 6%
• Did nothing at all 25%
• Resisted with a knife 40%
• Non-violent resistance 45%
Don't ever forget that.
Since when did facts matter to the Left?
Without the recent mass-shootings, the Left will want more gun control.
That reminds me to renew my NRA membership!
bump
Something that I have LONG wondered about is this:
Have most of these people been on anti-depressants when they started shooting up the neighborhood? They never, never, never report it, but it is my understanding that many of them are.
Maybe there is nothing at all wrong with guns, but maybe there is something drastically wrong with taking a pill that makes you think shooting your whole family, friends or neighbors is OK.
Also, when you have a Mom systematically killing her children, I sure wish they would report if that Mom was on anti-depressants. They just remove you from reality.
This certainly would move the target away from guns to anti-depressants (where I think it should be)
Excellent post!
Read it, Know it, Live it. And it is available to read on-line.
BOOKbump
1755 Pennsylvania school house massacre.
Massacre of school children by a man with a hatchet in 1813
massacre of school children near Hamilton Texas in the 1860’s
Along with several other family murders over the years...
The difference between then and now?
Back then a massacre occurred.
In one day the locals knew about it.
In a week the county knew about it.
In a month the state knew it.
In three months it might reach Washington DC.
Today, the massacre occurs and instantly the word is flashed around the world! Immediately various groups demand Washington do “something” to make everyone “feel” safe by banning the offending items used to do the massacre.
This was e-mailed to be this morning.....
1. Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you..
2. If you find yourself i n a fair fight, your tactics suck.
3. I carry a gun cause a cop is too heavy.
4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.
5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him ‘Why do you carry a 45?’ The Ranger responded, ‘Because they don’t make a 46.’
6. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. ‘Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?’ ‘No Ma’am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my shotgun.’
7. Beware the man who only has one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!
I’m not saying say anything bad, but just list them as a pattern. Is it even possible to go back to say the past 50 mass shootings and see how many of them were on anti-depressants?
It might be worth researching. I just don’t know how to find out. Police reports? Would it even be listed on police reports?
Now, the question would be...
are you trying to say that the anti-depressants caused them to go nuts,
or that they were already nuts enough to shoot up the place, and were on anti-depressants?
Exactly
I am saying that anti-depressants are not a great way to deal with life. Some of them permanently change you as soon as you take the first one. I just think it would be of interest to see how many of them are on them when they start shooting the place up.
Then instead of screaming about the guns, we could try to more properly address the SHOOTER and their issues. I think we are afraid to discuss anti-depressant usage in this country and have a public discussion about how much we take them instead of learning to live.
Talking to a liberal to change their will mind never bear fruit.
As a matter of fact, it has been discussed many times here, and when it is, it doesn't take long for the pro psychotropic-drug brigade to show up and flame anybody who dares to wonder if maybe prozac or SSRIs might just play a role.
They will tell you that they personally know people who are on them who are completely incapable of living without them, but with them they are totally normal human beings.
I just don't feel like engaging in any of that rhetoric any more.
All the crazies who can't live without their prozac have my blessing. Just leave me alone.
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