*“There’s a lot of popular rhetoric in the media and among politicians as to why people own guns,” Dowd-Arrow said. “The biggest claim is that they’re cowards. So, we wanted to see if owning guns was truly a symptom of fear.”…The researchers then examined the fears of people who owned guns. They found that people who own guns tend to report fewer phobias and victimization fears than people who do not own guns. This general pattern was observed across multiple types of fear, including fear of animals, heights and being mugged.
“There’s little evidence to suggest that gun ownership is an effect of fear,” Dowd-Arrow said. “However, gun ownership may be associated with less fear because firearms help their owners to feel safe, secure and protected in a world they perceive to be uncertain and potentially dangerous.”*
So the report has concluded little of use, because it didn’t factor in the possibility that guns potentially make people who are naturally more fearful less so. You’d think that would have been something they’d have considered.
[ul]
[li]The kind of people who would handle and interact with a lethal weapon regularly are the kind who would be less timid.[/li][li]Guns themselves can be intimidating (some people are afraid of the large bang noise and kick of rifles, for instance) and hence someone who is fearful wouldn’t own one.[/li][li]The kind of people who would need or want a gun may be the kind more likely to work in riskier occupations or live in risky places, and hence less fearful (if you are timid, you would be less likely to be a cop or soldier, etc.)[/li][li]The gun-control movement is, by its very nature, motivated by a certain fear - namely, fear of what guns can do, or the mass shootings that are associated with guns.[/li][/ul]
Thought he was getting charged with murder in that case?
His mistakes were legion: waiting 3.5 hours to call the cops that he’d blasted someone, picking up his shell casings, admitting shooting a warning shot, admitting he was shooting at the intruder as the intruder was running away. Which might have been OK given theft in the night time in Texas, but still, Dallas County is not where I’d like to have to justify that. I wouldn’t call this a positive gun use at all.
The pisser is that if he hadn’t called the cops at all, I think it very unlikely the police would have figured out he did it,
Is the difference between a good self defense case and murder, a phone call to the cops? If the burglar charged the old guy with a pick ax, or even if the burglar was merely holding it, the old guy is well within his rights to feel in danger of imminent bodily harm, and use deadly force to stop that threat. Regardless of whether the old guy later calls the police or not.
It looks bad, it certainly takes away the benefit of the doubt from the old guy, but this may still have been a perfectly good self defense situation in Texas. How he handled it afterward is abominable, of course. Guilty of tampering with evidence, unlawful discharge of a weapon within city limits (the warning shot), and he may be guilty of some form of unlawful homicide.
For a less completely fucked up “positive” gun news story from Texas, last week in Houston a woman called police (apparently right away and everything) after shooting her ex-boyfriend after he allegedly broke into her home around 10 p.m. He is expected to survive; thus far, the woman has not been charged.
From Redding, California, a man with a concealed carry permit was able to free a woman who had been kidnapped after pulling his handgun on the kidnapper at a gas station. The kidnapper fled the scene, but was arrested nearby. The kidnapping victim reportedly had minor injuries and was able to return home. The assailant reportedly had also earlier beaten and injured the woman’s sister at the time of the initial kidnapping; the assailant faces domestic violence charges along with a number of other crimes.
From a couple of weeks ago in Wichita Falls, Texas, a man attempted to steal a donation bucket full of small bills from a disabled charity volunteer. A witness at the scene chased down the thief, who struck that person with a backpack then pulled a knife. Two other bystanders confronted the now-armed thief; one of those bystanders was armed and was able to detain the would-be robber at gunpoint until police arrived.
From last week in Statesville, North Carolina, a homeowner who came home and caught a man who had broken into his house held the would-be burglar at gunpoint until sheriff’s deputies arrived and arrested the intruder. The would-be burglar is facing multiple charges and is suspected in a couple of other break-ins; he also has a prior criminal history that includes other breaking-and-entering offenses.
No shots were fired and no one was injured in the incident.
