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Originally Posted by Platapus
Without knowing what adjustments and what the confounding variables, it is difficult to determine the accuracy of the results.
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Well put. I would very much like to know the circumstances under which these tests were performed, and the scenarios involved, as well as many other variables. Too bad it costs $ or I'd take a look at them.
Sky does bring up a good point in suggesting (as per the study) that armed victims are more likely to be shot in some situations; if an assailant with a firearm has the drop on you and you stupidly try to out-draw him....well, the results will be fairly predictable. As Sky points out, discretion is sometimes the better part of valor, whether you are armed or not. Techniques exsist that allow one to suddenly and advantageously reverse such situations, but they are risky and difficult for anyone without a very vested effort in self-defense education to execute.
That said, the suggestion that simply posessing a weapon makes you more prone to becoming a casualty is questionable. In many cases, possessing a firearm will make you much less prone to becoming a casualty; for instance, if someone is intent upon killing or wounding you with an inferior weapon, a firearm would be a decided advantage under most circumstances. Similarly, if one were to find oneself in the area of a mass shooting, use of a firearm is a much better recourse than simply panicking and running/hiding, counting upon others to take bullets for you. That is, assuming you care anything for the lives of others.
In fact, in the situation described above, one would stand an excellent chance of successfully wounding or killing the attacker because they would have the element of surprise.
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Originally Posted by Skybird
Carrying weapons in self-defense must not necessarily have a deterring effect - it also can trigger easier use of violent force by the attacker in an attempt to overcome the surprising or to be expected resistance of the intended victim.
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True, if a bit nebulous. Carrying weapons, especially concealed weapons, may indeed not have any deterrant effect at all. Statistically speaking, I could walk into just about any venue in the US, start shooting, and reasonably expect not to be shot at until I had done a considerable amount of damage. It is also probable that I could rob a given merchant or person without fear of armed reprisal.
Nonetheless, if private weapon ownership and responsible usage were to be encouraged, the deterrant effect would manifest itself much more effectively, imo. I realize the critics often point to the comparitively high ratio of guns to citizens in the US as evidence against that point, but those statistics are quite misleading. Most gun owners own more than one firearm. I myself own six, but I'm not indicative of the US population as a whole. Nonetheless, all my registered weapons count towards the ratios calculated by the ATF. Once you factor in the number of obsolete or collector firearms, which must also be registered, the ratio of guns to citizens in the US is quite low, though still above average for most nations. Admittedly, I imagine that the ratio would be raised quite a bit by the presence of illegal firearms, if there was any reliable way of tabulating their numbers.
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Originally Posted by Skybird
In other words: owning a gun has its own risks, and owning a gun is no replacement for brains, and we do not even talk about the need for proper gun training and training the psychological readiness to use ponetially lethal force against somebody else (a problem known to any self defence trainer). In many situations and places you are simply better off not to be armed. That may hurt your ego, but a hurt ego does not kill you.
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What you say is quite true Sky. Quite true. If more gun owners shared this aspect of your views I'm sure that private gun ownership and regulation would not be such an issue. Unfortunately, most people in the US don't share your cognizance. Stances on gun usage range from those held by the reckless to those held by the insufferably paranoid.
Personally, I'd love to see the second amendment revisited, provided that the spirit of it remains the same. As citizens, it is our duty and our right to arm and defend ourselves against aggressors and the state, should circumstances warrant it. The fear of an armed populace is a deterrant to criminals of any kind, including criminal states, if weapon ownership is pervasive enough. That much I hold true.
However, I would like to see a proper Constitutional stance on modern firearms; one that protects and encourages proper usage and training. For all their wisdom, the founding fathers could not have predicted the advances in small-arms technology, and this is one of the few areas in which I am willing to compromise on Constitutional principles, assuming that it is done in the proper spirit and fashion.
As individuals, it is our right to defend ourselves, our families, and our possessions against both lawlessness and totalitarianism; to surrender it is to put ourselves at the mercy of the powerful and the immoral. With that right comes the responsibility to excercise it properly, that we might not become tyrants or criminals ourselves. Firearms are the modern weapons of choice when it comes to individual defense. Firearms are force incarnate, force to good or ill. As a free society, we have the responsibility to ensure that these weapons are freely available to the law-abiding citzenry, so long as responsibility and proper training can be demonstrated. How we decide to go about establishing what constitutes proof is something else again, but I feel that the idea is sound.