ARMING FOR SELF-DEFENSE:  A STEP TOWARDS ENHANCED PERSONAL SECURITY – OR A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS MISTAKE?

Adds additional data to the review of the pros and cons discussed in Chapter 13 of both the Ninth Edition and especially the Tenth Edition.

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GUN-BUYING SOARED DURING THE PANDEMIC

Gun sales increased to record levels during the dislocations and shortages spurred by the pandemic, and the summer of protests for racial justice and against police violence. According to the federal background check system, around one fifth were first time buyers, as described here.

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WHAT LAWS HAVE BEEN PASSED ON THE FEDERAL AND STATE LEVELS CONCERNING “CONCEALED CARRY” AND GUN SAFETY?

Each state has different regulations about concealed carry, according to the compilation by a gun safety organization presented here.This organization also monitors recent changes in gun safety laws, as summarized here.

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HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE RECEIVED A PERMIT TO CARRY A CONCEALED HANDGUN FOR SELF-PROTECTION?

More and more people are obtaining permits to carry a concealed handgun. As of 2019, nearly 19 million concealed carry permits had been issued in the  34 states that require permission from the government to go around armed.  (In 16 states, residents don’t need permission to go around armed). Nationwide, more than 7 percent of all adults have permits, but the proportions are much higher in certain states, such as Alabama (26%) and Indiana (18%), and much lower in California and New York, as documented by a pro-gun website here.

HOW MANY PEOPLE WHO HAD A CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT HAVE COMMITTED MURDER OR MANSLAUGHTER?

Armed citizens are supposed to be law-abiding persons who don’t want to end up as victims. But how many have abused the permission they received to carry a handgun around, by shooting someone to death – and not as an act of justifiable homicide – but as a slaying? A gun safety group that monitors the news for these situations has issued a report which is summarized here

https://thecrimereport.org/2019/10/22/concealed-carry-permit-holders-killed-1335-since-2007/

HOW OFTEN DO ARMED VICTIMS DRAW AND FIRE THEIR GUNS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES?

The ongoing debate over “Defensive Gun Uses (DGUs) continues. A new study based on the NCVS estimates that victims reach for their guns in less than 1% of all confrontations. But other researchers using different methods come up with a larger figure, as explained in this transcript of a radio program.

BEST CASE AND WORST CASE SCENARIOS

Adds a number of recent cases to those listed in Ch. 13.

The Kind Of Cases Advocates of Armed Self-Defense Cite

These are all best-case scenarios, where having a gun handy led to a positive outcome for a law-abiding person in grave danger. They were culled from the news by a pro-gun website.

A publication affiliated with the “gun lobby” systematically monitors the news to highlight incidents in which an “armed citizen” successfully brandishes or uses a legally owned firearm for self-protection. Read their compilation of  cases illustrating the importance of victims under attack “exercising their Second Amendment rights” here.

A woman is cornered in her bedroom by an escaped convict who has barged into her home. She shoots him dead in what the local sheriff categorizes as a shining example of why people should own guns and learn how to use them, as recounted here. 

The Kind of Cases Advocates of Gun Control Cite

Adds a number of recent cases to those listed in Ch. 13.

This collection of cases culled from the news during a typical week highlights incidents in which  an innocent person gets shot, or a minor altercation escalates into a deadly encounter, or a child accidentally dies from gunfire, or a despondent person commits suicide. Read about the tragedies here.

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DEATHS OF CHILDREN FROM GUNFIRE: THESE TRAGEDIES MOSTLY HAPPEN HERE

Provides additional evidence for the anti-gun owning arguments presented in the 9th and especially the 10th edition.

A policeman accidently shoots and kills his son while playing with guns, as described here.

A comparative study of statistics about gun deaths in the advanced industrial world reveals that the overwhelming majority of children (from 0 to 14 years of age) killed by bullets were young Americans, as recounted here.

When little children “accidentally” die from bullet wounds because they find a loaded gun lying around, their parents should be prosecuted for criminal negligence, according to this opinion piece.

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THOSE WHO ARE SHOT AND THEN FORGOTTEN DESERVE SOME ATTENTION

These chilling interviews dramatize what happens to victims who survive getting wounded. Read their.sad stories here

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The Number Of Households With Firearms Has Been Declining Since 1970

However, according to a different measurement system, the number of gun owners in America is declining, but those households that are armed have a growing arsenal of firearms. Based on poll data, it seems that the number of gun-owning households has declined from 50% in 1973 to 32% in 2010. Read about the trend here

The very latest poll estimates that the proportion of households possessing a firearm crept up to 34% but the 2% increase from 2010 was not considered to be statistically significant. Read about the trends in the share of gun-owning households here.

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A SURVEY REVEALS THE PROFILE OF THE TYPICAL GUN OWNER  AND THE TYPICAL PERSON UNCOMFORTABLE WITH GUNS

A widely held stereotype seems to be accurate: gun owners tend to be male, white, and rural.

People uncomfortable with guns tend to be non-white, female, and urban or suburban, as reported here.

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A List Has Been Secretly Assembled Of All Gun Owners In America

The National Rifle Association has mobilized millions of people to oppose gun control measures because of the specter of the government knowing the names and addresses of all gun owners. But it seems the NRA itself has covertly put together a database for its own political purposes of all former, current, and even prospective gun owners in America. The database was assembled from state permit-holder lists, participants at gun safety classes, and attendees at gun shows, according to this investigative report.

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MASS SHOOTINGS ROUTINELY PROVOKE SHORT-LIVED DEBATES OVER ADOPTING MORE EFFECTIVE GUN CONTROL MEASURES

This plea by an advocate of gun control decries the “self-inflicted wounds” burdening people in the United States. Read the advocate’s views here.

See what President Obama has to say on the issue and then consider what Australia did in response to the problem of mass shootings here.

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Competing Databases Of Mass Shootings Confuse Researchers

A guide to the outbreaks of mass shootings in the U.S. appeared in Mother Jones magazine before the Connecticut elementary school massacre because of mass shootings in a Sikh temple, a movie theater, and a shopping mall earlier in 2012. View the database and an interactive map about the victims of mass shootings here;      Also, read about the casualties of mass shootings here.

Victimologists want to contribute to the debate by estimating the true scope of problem of mass shootings / mass murders. At least three organizations are monitoring this worrisome situation. But their definitions differ, so the statistics they disseminate are totally at odds with each other. Read about this important methodological dispute here.  When different definitions generate wildly varying estimates of the seriousness of the gun violence problem, confusion about appropriate responses ensues. This type of maximalist/minimalist disagreement is explained here.

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KIDS AND GUNS: JUST FATHERS RAISING SONS OR A TROUBLING ASPECT OF OUR CULTURE?

Should learning to be familiar with firearms be an important part of growing up, or is the transmission of gun culture from one generation to another a problem that fuels needless violence and tragic accidents and suicides? A new documentary examines this question, as described here.

In the aftermath of another school shooting, some Republican members of Congress sent out Christmas cards showing their children smiling and armed for self-protection, as pictured here

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A Survivor of Domestic Violence And Of The Murders Of Two Family Members Buys A Gun But Then Changes Her Mind

She decides that arming in self-defense is not the solution to gun violence, and calls upon the media to improve its coverage of this deeply entrenched problem. See the video of her interview here.

A Member of Congress Who Survived An Assassination Attempt Testifies In Favor Of Gun Control Legislation

Read about the hearing and hear her address a sub-committee here. Then hear her husband testify, along with the head of the NRA and a woman who argues that assault weapons might be necessary for mothers to fight back against a pack of vicious home invaders. Watch the video of the highlights of the hearing here.

Survivor Of Virginia Tech Massacre Has An Agenda For Immediate Action

Several regulatory measures seem reasonable and could prevent some shooting sprees against innocent victims in the future: more comprehensive background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and a ban on possessing large capacity magazines, according to a former student who was seriously wounded in the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. He now works as a gun control activist. Hear about his plan in a video interview here.

A Totally Different “Solution” Is Proposed By Staunch Advocates For Armed Self-Defense: Every Household Must Possess A Gun

Nelson, a small town in Georgia, made the news by considering an ordinance requiring every family to have a gun for protection as a deterrent to burglars, “just like an alarm system” as one supporter contended. The town’s attempt to require gun ownership is modeled after nearby Kennesaw, which has mandated that households be armed since 1982. Read about these developments  here .

Let Teachers Carry Guns To Protect Themselves and Their Students?

In the aftermath of the massacre of elementary school children, the National Rifle Asssociation (NRA) called for a “good guy with a gun” to be stationed in every building to protect students. Read about their proposal here.

South Dakota has become the first state to specifically authorize teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools to bring their guns into the classroom. Read about the new law here. Some school districts who count on armed teachers to protect their pupils will face higher insurance costs, a sign that actuaries that predict risks fear expensive lawsuits about misuse may result, as mentioned here.

The gun control debate has become highly politicized.  A far right group, the “Oath Keepers,” faults the federal government for limiting the “rights” of individuals to carry weapons wherever they go. The arguments put forward by this extremist group go beyond the NRA’s call to arms: Read the “Oath-keepers” editorial.

But when teachers are armed, ostensibly to protect the pupils in their classes from vicious intruders, they may misuse theirs weapons, just like other gunowners, to attack colleagues, administrators, or estranged lovers, or to commit suicide, as this study indicates.

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Should College Students Be Permitted To Carry Guns On Campus For Self-Protection?

After a graduate student goes on a killing spree in an crowded movie theater, a debate breaks out over allowing students with concealed carry permits at the University of Colorado to  bring their handguns on to the campus. See the video here,

In the wake of a mass shooting, the president of a devoutly religious college urged his students to take the school’s free “concealed carry permit class” and then buy guns and bring them to the campus for self-protection, as analyzed and criticized here.

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Should Customers Bring Their Guns To A Coffee Shop?

A well-known chain that sells expensive varieties of coffees to customers who enjoy its laid-back atmosphere faces a dilemma: in locations where state laws permit “open carry,” should patrons with holstered guns be banned from their premises? Listen to an interview about this dilemma here.

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Sportscaster Questions The “Wisdom” of Athletes Arming For Self-Defense

After a football player murders his intimate partner and then later commits suicide, Bob Costas says that professional athletes often get guns for self-protection. Many have become embroiled in avoidable violence but not one has successfully used a gun in a legitimate case of self-defense, he argues.

Read an article about the controversy sparked by his remarks, and watch his half-time comments

See an interview where he criticizes “gun culture:”

 

The opponents of gun control legislation offer this rebuttal here.

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ANOTHER CONTROVERSIAL KILLING IN WHICH THE SURVIVOR CLAIMS SELF-DEFENSE UNDER FLORIDA’S “STAND YOUR GROUND” LAW

Addresses an issue raised  on pp. 5-6 in Ch. 1 about the need for objectivity when deciding who to designate as the victim and as the offender.

Also provides another example about acting in self-defense vs. crossing the line and unleashing excessive force.

The debate continues over whether this law enables would-be victims to pull a gun and fire it in  self-defense or permits aggressive individuals to “shoot first” and then claim they were about to be attacked.

Read two articles about this controversial case:

Man shoots noisy teen.

Column: ‘Stand your ground’ law flaws

And view a video outlining the two sides in this debate here.

THE HISTORY OF STAND YOUR GROUND LAWS REVEALS AN OBVIOUS BIAS IN FAVOR OF PROTECTING WHITE MEN WHO FEEL THREATENED

Examines issues raised in Chapter 13

An historian concludes that the castle doctrine, which enables homeowners to protect themselves by using deadly force against intruders,was not intended to defend minorities. Listen to the brief radio program here

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Justifiable Shootings: Depends On the Race Of the Survivor And The Deceased

Sheds light on the growing number of justifiable homicides, as discussed on pp. 430-431 in Chapter 13.

Stand-your-ground laws apparently have triggered more shootings. But who is more likely to successfully claim self-defense and escape punishment?

The controversy intensifies because the race of the survivor and the race of the deceased might play a role in how the criminal justice system responds to real-life cases, as this newspaper analysis suggests here, as well as another article that provides documentation about possible bias here.

A researcher presented his findings, based on FBI supplementary homicide reports, to a senate subcommittee. If the shooter was white and the person who was shot was white, then the homicide was considered to be justifiable in about 2% of all cases examined. If the shooter was black and the deceased was white, only 1% were deemed justifiable. But if the shooter was white and the deceased was black, the killing was ruled to be justifiable in almost 10% of all cases in non-stand-your-ground states, and nearly 17% of all cases in states with stand-your-ground legislation. Read a summary here and find a link to the whole report here.

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DID THIS VICTIM OVER-REACT BY UNLEASHING DEADLY FORCE? APPARENTLY NOT.

Offers a real-life case that might be considered as an example of a victim “going too far” to protect his property, as discussed on p. 431 of Ch. 13.

An FBI agent looks out of the second floor window of his home and spots a man breaking into his car. He shoots the thief and is labeled a vigilante, as described here. But the prosecutor doesn’t pursue the case, for reasons explained here.

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THIS BURGLARY VICTIM SURELY COMMITTED MURDER WITHOUT ANY JUSTIFICATION

A 76 year-old man shot his 13 year-old neighbor in anger because he mistakenly believed the teenager had broken into his home and stolen some shotguns a few days earlier. He then claimed insanity but the jury rejected his argument and the judge sentenced him to life without parole. Read the sad story about the slaying of an innocent unarmed boy here.

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A FRIGHTENED HOMEOWNER SHOOTS A YOUNG WOMAN SEEKING HIS HELP

A young black woman who had been drinking crashes her car, and, discovering her cell phone battery is dead, knocks on a door of a nearby home for help. A suburban white homeowner opens his door, fears she is trying to break in, and shoots her in the head with a shotgun through a locked screen door. After a great deal of controversy, a prosecutor rejects his claim of self-defense, deems the deceased young woman to be the genuine victim, and charges him with second degree murder. Read the article here and watch a video about the controversy prior to his arrest here.