Quote:
Originally Posted by Rule10b5
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.
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That's my point right there. If the papers are so anti gun and anti self defense with a firearm, they'd be eating up every opportunity they could to present where a lawsuit went in favor of the criminal. Since there are so few shootings, and even fewer go to court, why should I be worried? If I've already said my gun isn't coming out of the holster unless it's going to be fired and that's only happening in a situation where my life is going to end or I'm going to be severely injured if I don't, I shouldn't have anything to worry about. The first issue is going to be whether or not my life was in danger and the shooting was justified. I won't even draw unless pulling the trigger is justified.
I understand the your precaution, as you stated, 98% of the time a shot isn't fired...so 98% of 2,500,000 over the course of a year don't involve a shot...that's 50,000 incidences where shot(s) are fired. 75% are warning shots...that leaves 12,500 shootings per year on average where the shot(s) are fired at the human target. That's 34 per day, every day.