Quote:
Originally Posted by SandyI
I'd be interested to see that study, but I'm more interested in handguns. I'm not a gun owner. I don't see the point. But I have friends who own handguns. Family members who own them too. Let's say there are 20,000,000 legally owned handguns in the U.S., how many of them were used to defend a home in 2006?
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There are about 10x that number of guns in private hands in the US, but your question is impossible to answer. Guns don't just prevent crime when used in face to face confrontations. Criminals avoid areas where they know they are likely to face armed resistance. I mean, criminals are usually pretty dumb. But they always choose unarmed over armed victims. Look at Wash. DC - total gun ban since 1977 and an insane gun crime rate. Then right across the bridges in VA where most folks can, and many do, not just own, but carry guns, there is not even close to the gun crime problem that exists in DC. Oh, and Wash. DC has the highest ratio of law enforcement folks to citizens in the US. Still, they can't make a dent in the ridiculous crime here. Armed citizens deter far more crime than cops do. How often have you heard of a cop getting to a crime scene in time to protect the victim? They come later to clean up the mess and take the report. I'd rather have a gun in my hand than a cop on the phone.