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VPC-Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use
http://www.vpc.org/studies/justifiable15.pdfNormally I would not use a VPC report to pick up after my dogs, but since excerpts have been receiving attention I decided to read the report. Specifically the statement that "Guns are rarely used to kill criminals or stop crimes" reasoning that only 259 justifiable homicides vs. 8432 criminal homicides with firearms in 2012.
Yet the title also says "Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use"; I wondered what the report had to say about that...
COMPARING NCVS DATA TO CLAIMS THAT GUNS ARE USED IN SELF-DEFENSE 2.5 MILLION TIMES A YEAR
Using the NCVS numbers, for the five-year period 2007 through 2011, the total number of self protective behaviors involving a firearm by victims of attempted or completed violent crimes or property crimes totaled only 338,700. In comparison, the gun lobby claims that during the same five-year period guns were used 12.5 million times in self defense (applying to the five-year period the gun lobby’s oft repeated claim, noted earlier, that firearms are used in self defense 2.5 million times a year). {p.7}
Using the NCVS numbers, for the five-year period 2007 through 2011, the total number of self protective behaviors involving a firearm by victims of attempted or completed violent crimes or property crimes totaled only 338,700. In comparison, the gun lobby claims that during the same five-year period guns were used 12.5 million times in self defense (applying to the five-year period the gun lobby’s oft repeated claim, noted earlier, that firearms are used in self defense 2.5 million times a year). {p.7}
Unsurprisingly they found a number far lower than the 2.5 million high end claim. But the total dismissed as "only", 338,700, equates to 67,740 DGUs per year.
It should also be noted that the NCVS number is viewed as an absolute minimum and in the report Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearms-Related Violence said of the NCVS "difficult to interpret because respondents were not asked specifically about defensive gun use" {p. 15}
Comparing this to
TABLE TWO: CIRCUMSTANCES FOR HOMICIDES BY FIREARM, 2008-2012 {p. 10}
Criminal Homicide 42,419
Justifiable Homicide 1,108
or an average of 8,484 criminal homicides per year.
Two conclusions are quickly drawn from comparing VPC numbers.
1. The murderous vigilante meme is fantasy. The number of justifiable homicides is very low in any given year and roughly .327% of DGUs result in fatalities.
2. Guns are often used defensively; 7.98 times more often than used to commit criminal homicide.
Perhaps the statement should be "Guns are rarely used to kill criminals but stop crimes 8 times more often than they are used to murder".
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