Walmart encounter....

[paul]

Originally Posted by JBurton57

Where do those numbers come from? I'm sorry, but that sounds impossible to believe....
I think it's safe to assume that if a member of this forum were involved in a defensive shooting, he/she would start a thread about it. The forum should be full of them.

Well, I for one have been involved in defensive shootings, plenty of offensive shootings as well. While in the states I've also been in situations where I was able to step in on other peoples behalves because I knew I was armed and had the option to take things the whole way if need be. As for the stats, heres a link to a poster I made about this very topic, it has cites for all the stats you are having trouble believing, but I'm not really interested in retyping them.

As far as kids and guns, I've got 17 nieces and nephews so far, and my first baby on the way, I train all the kiddos in at least the basics when it comes to firearms safety, I use the cornered cat method.. Incidentally, that website is an excellent one to refer women shooters to, especially new shooters.

[Emptymag]

Originally Posted by JBurton57

Where do those numbers come from? I'm sorry, but that sounds impossible to believe.

Look at a reality check: The current population of the United States is about 304 million, of which over 20% is under the age of 15. For the sake of simplicity let us assume that these people have difficulty obtaining firearms and/or did not fire them defensively.

This leaves approximately 240 million people in the US. If we assume that every one of those people has equal access to a firearm (simply not true, but let's assume it for the sake of simplicity), then just over 1% of the total population would be involved in a self-defensive shooting incident every year.

1% doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. This site has about 9,000 members. That's not an extremely large number to generalize to the population, but following the 1% figure, it'd be logical to predict that approximately 90 people on this site would be involved in a defensive firearm shooting every year. Assuming shootings take place regularly throughout the year, then there should be about 8 incidents per month. That's 2 per week.

I think it's safe to assume that if a member of this forum were involved in a defensive shooting, he/she would start a thread about it. The forum should be full of them.

Here are a few.
http://www.pafoa.org/forum/concealed...ur-weapon.html

http://www.pafoa.org/forum/concealed...f-defense.html

Regardless of the numbers, it's interesting reading.

Welcome to the forum.

[Suburban]

Originally Posted by JBurton57

Where do those numbers come from? I'm sorry, but that sounds impossible to believe.

"According to the National Self Defense Survey conducted by Florida State University criminologists in 1994, the rate of Defensive Gun Uses can be projected nationwide to approximately 2.5 million per year -- one Defensive Gun Use every 13 seconds."

Quote is hotlinked to a page of the Gunclock website.

[Cole]

Too often I think gun people are so defensive and socially awkward these days that they make bad ambassadors.

Here's where I get in trouble. I think OCing to make a statement, overloading on the tacticool stuff, and feeling the need to address a stranger's small child in a store to impart a life lesson really puts us in a bad light. It makes gun enthusiasts come across as weirdos and helps fuel the flames for gun control in this country.

I love where your hearts are, but your actions turn people off.

Commence flaming.

[Suburban]

Originally Posted by Cole

Here's where I get in trouble. I think OCing to make a statement, overloading on the tacticool stuff, and feeling the need to address a stranger's small child in a store to impart a life lesson really puts us in a bad light. It makes gun enthusiasts come across as weirdos and helps fuel the flames for gun control in this country.

I love where your hearts are, but your actions turn people off.

Commence flaming.

I agree. . . to a point. If we allow children, and the public in general, to be bombarded by gun control misinformation (and outright lies) by the "drive-by media," without any attempt at telling them how it really is, we will be screwed, sooner or later.

Was it a little disrespectful to the mother? Perhaps, but she was wrong, so I don't mind so much.

[JBurton57]

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

As for the numbers, if 1% of the populace uses a firearm defensively in any given year, that's the same as saying that each person is likely to use a firearm defensively one time in a hundred years. That doesn't sound out of line to me, especially since it's an average, and some people live in high crime areas and will rely on firearms to repel intruders and muggers a dozen times over their lifetimes.

You make a strong argument. What do you say about the expectation that this forum should see approximately 2 reports of defensive weapon use per week?

I took the liberty of looking through the threads EmptyMag posted above, as well as some other threads, and found that in the last 1.5 years, there were about 30 reports of defensive weapon use, where we should expect approximately 150 cases.

Even more telling, of those reports, not all were fresh incidents newly reported. Most were incidents that had occurred over 1 year prior. But even assuming that I have missed reports (almost certainly true), the forum has experienced far fewer incidents of defensive weapon use than what the statistics predict.

How should we interpret these data?

[Emptymag]

Originally Posted by JBurton57

You make a strong argument. What do you say about the expectation that this forum should see approximately 2 reports of defensive weapon use per week?

I took the liberty of looking through the threads EmptyMag posted above, as well as some other threads, and found that in the last 1.5 years, there were about 30 reports of defensive weapon use, where we should expect approximately 150 cases.

Even more telling, of those reports, not all were fresh incidents newly reported. Most were incidents that had occurred over 1 year prior. But even assuming that I have missed reports (almost certainly true), the forum has experienced far fewer incidents of defensive weapon use than what the statistics predict.

How should we interpret these data?

So long as you don't interpret it to mean I have no justification to own a firearm, we're good.

Statistics mean nothing when something wicked comes knocking on your door.

[andrewjs18]

Are guns for crazy people? Ask anyone who isn't for guns what they think of us...you're craZY!!!

seriously, you took care of it just fine....Maybe the Mom needs to educate her son more about guns and the people who illegally use them.

Cops have guns, right? I'm sure she doesn't hate the cops.

[learch_75]

I am 26 kinda young but was brought up on a farm in the sticks and was taught about the guns in the house hold and was thought not to touch them with out my father until I was old&mature to handle them by myself and I was tought to never start a fight but I damn sure finish it oh and my father usually had my brother and I out almost ever chance he got and let us shoot and handle the guns then we had no wondering about them we never did because if we did there be hell to pay and so I do my part to teach younger one about firearms and hunting so our love and passion lives on

[Longshot]

Originally Posted by JBurton57

You make a strong argument. What do you say about the expectation that this forum should see approximately 2 reports of defensive weapon use per week?

I took the liberty of looking through the threads EmptyMag posted above, as well as some other threads, and found that in the last 1.5 years, there were about 30 reports of defensive weapon use, where we should expect approximately 150 cases.

Even more telling, of those reports, not all were fresh incidents newly reported. Most were incidents that had occurred over 1 year prior. But even assuming that I have missed reports (almost certainly true), the forum has experienced far fewer incidents of defensive weapon use than what the statistics predict.

How should we interpret these data?

Your forgetting one thing though, not everyone is comfortable talking about things like this. Some people on this forum don't even show their new purchases, so keep in mind that what we read here are only what people are willing to share. Not every person that is a member of this forum even owns a gun. I will guarantee you one thing, I personally would never talk about such things on a public forum to people I don't know personally. I also don't have pictures posted of all of the guns that I own(if I own any at all).

It really is easy to pull statistics out of the air