Largest Survey In Historical past Exhibits People Defend Themselves With Weapons 1.67 Million Occasions Every 12 months

The largest and most comprehensive survey of American gun homeowners ever performed suggests that they use firearms in self-defense about 1.7 million occasions a 12 months. It additionally confirms that AR-15-style rifles and magazines that maintain greater than 10 rounds, frequent targets of gun management laws, are in frequent use for lawful functions, which the Supreme Court docket has mentioned is the check for arms lined by the Second Modification. …

Thirty-one % of the gun homeowners mentioned that they had used a firearm to defend themselves or their property, usually on a number of events. As in earlier analysis, the overwhelming majority of such incidents (82 %) didn’t contain firing a gun, not to mention injuring or killing an attacker. In additional than four-fifths of the instances, respondents reported that brandishing or mentioning a firearm was sufficient to remove the menace.

That actuality helps clarify the huge divergence in estimates of defensive gun makes use of. The self-reports of gun homeowners might not be totally dependable, since they might be exaggerated, mistaken, or dishonest. However limiting the evaluation to instances during which an attacker was wounded or killed, or to incidents that had been lined by newspapers or reported to the police, is sure to overlook far more frequent encounters with much less dramatic outcomes.

About half of the defensive gun makes use of recognized by the survey concerned multiple assailant. 4-fifths occurred contained in the gun proprietor’s residence or on his property, whereas 9 % occurred in a public place and three % occurred at work. Essentially the most generally used firearms had been handguns (66 %), adopted by shotguns (21 %) and rifles (13 %).

Primarily based on the variety of incidents that gun homeowners reported, [Georgetown University political economist William] English estimates that “weapons are used defensively by firearms homeowners in roughly 1.67 million incidents per 12 months.” That quantity doesn’t embrace instances the place individuals defended themselves with weapons owned by others, which might assist clarify why English’s determine is decrease than a earlier estimate by Florida State College criminologists Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz. Primarily based on a 1993 phone survey with a considerably smaller pattern, Kleck and Gertz put the annual quantity at greater than 2 million.

Though lower than one in 10 of the defensive gun makes use of recognized by English’s survey occurred in public locations, a lot of the respondents (56 %) mentioned that they had carried handguns for self-defense. Greater than a 3rd (35 %) mentioned they did so “typically,” “usually,” or “all the time or virtually all the time.” About the identical share reported that that they had wished to hold handguns in circumstances the place native guidelines prohibited it.

— Jacob Sullum in The Largest-Ever Survey of American Gun Owners Finds That Defensive Use of Firearms Is Common