But whining by gun-control websites, that will suit you, will it? Do your own bloody research. Kellerman actually withdrew his original study and resubmitted a modified study that revised his original estimate by an order of magnitude. As Martin Hyde has stated, none of the studies and metastudies cited by either side have really held up to statistical rigor and scrutiny.
Are you congenitally incapable of reading comprehension? I didn’t say that “accidental shootings shouldn’t count.” However, Kellerman conflated legitimate and justifiable uses of a firearm against intrusion or violence with the use of a firearm against a household member or “associate” (which, under the definition applied, could be one gang-banger plugging another one over a drug deal) by an aggressor or in a negligent or accidental context. And Kellerman ignores unreported uses of a firearm to deter crime–reasonable, as the survey documentation for such used by Keck, et al is suspect at best–but tends to undervalue the benefit of owning a firearm as a defensive weapon.
As for home invasion being “a stroke fantasy that never happens,” I guess I should be writing into Penthouse, 'cause not only did it happen to me one one occasion (in which I, as a 14 year old, used a handgun to drive back and out an adult male aggressor nearly twice my size) but I have several friends who have experienced some level of “home invasion” on multiple occasions. The full-on “armed thugs blowing in to rape and kill the wife, kids, and dog,” may be vanishingly rare, but an intruder who doesn’t realize that someone is home is a non-uncommon circumstance, and intrusion stemming from domestic situations is unfortunately common, as any peace officer can relate.
It is clear you have a very personal, emotional objection to firearms ownership, and that’s fine. You’re entitled to your own opinion. But don’t pretend that this is a rational position backed up by hard statistical data and peer-reviewed studies that are widely accepted by the forensic and criminology community.
Stranger