Quote:
Originally Posted by jtkratzer
I just can't see how it's that much of an issue when we don't see the lawsuits being won left and right by people who are shot in self defense. If charges were filed based on the gun being modified and we saw more lawsuits won, I'd be concerned. Anyone can file a lawsuit...whether or not it goes through its paces is another story.
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A few reasons you don't see it.
First, there aren't that many justified shootings. Prof. Lott said in his book that 98% of the time when a gun is even brandished in self-defense it isn't used. Of the 2%, 75% of the time the shot is a warning shot. That means that only .5% of the time a gun is drawn in self defense is it actually fired at a human target. Pretty low odds, IMHO, given the chances of actually having to draw a gun -- and the .5% number actually assumes (in the context of our conversation) that the use is actually justified. My point is just that they're pretty darn rare.
Second, we don't hear about them. Most of them are a couple of lines in a newspaper and then they're out of the public eye. Papers don't like to report on justified shootings -- most mainstream papers are incredibly anti-gun. Every story of a person defending himself from a criminal is a slap in the face of the newspapers that have made a industry predicated on the backs of little kids who get slaughtered by gang-bangers because of evvvvvviiiiiillll guns. They don't want to report this stuff.
Third, and this is the biggest factor: They settle. Something like 96% of cases are dismissed, settled, or are decided on SJ. If it doesn't see trial and result in a surprising or newsworthy verdict, you aren't going to hear about it (hell, I'm not going to hear about it unless I'm trolling the case reports for the particular county where the trial happens). To be honest, you don't hear about many verdicts in civil cases, period, because they usually aren't considered "news" unless the amount is insanely high, or the P or D is particularly notable, famous, or sympathetic in the community.