# Stupid Gun news of the day (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729 "2013-01-29T19:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 31
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/601 "2013-02-18T03:36:20Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > As for the tanks, I will leave you to explain them. I figure the best way to confiscate your firearms is with a tank. Maybe an F-22. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/602 "2013-02-18T03:50:40Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Is that survey one of the ones that defines a DGU as locking your bedroom door when you hear somebody breaking in in the middle of the night, yelling “Get out of here, I have a gun”, then waiting for the bad guys to rob you and leave? If so, I think 55,000 may be a bit high. I gave you the low estimate dip shit. It’s the number accepted by gun-grabbers when they don’t like the 1 to 2.5 million number given by anonymous phone surveys. You can read more about it here: [http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/hemenway1.htm](http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/hemenway1.htm) But hey, if you guns don’t like science, we can go back to raw footage: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7bkvs6_BYzA/hqdefault.jpg "Thanksgiving Day Defensive Gun Use #1 (Kansas)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bkvs6_BYzA) ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/603 "2013-02-18T04:07:58Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Or is it one of the ones that counts DGU as “I saw a guy and he was prolly gonna do a crime, but I flashed mah gun at him and he runned away.” > > Or counts the stories that folks mail in to gun lovers digest that read like Penthouse Forum letters: “Dear Gun Lovers Digest: i never thought this would happen to me, but one day I was out minding my own business, with my trusty gun, and…” This. The last (and only) time I had an intruder, I was sitting in my computer room and heard my front door open and close. I stepped out into the hallway to find a rather confused young lady. The conversation went like this: Me: Hello? Her: I’m looking for (upstairs neighbor) Me: Wrong apartment. He’s one up. Her: Oh… thanks. Sorry (leaves) It could have gone like this: Me: (grabs gun) Get out of my house! Her: (wets herself and runs screaming) Now, I’m willing to bet that folks like Kable would have treated the second version as a “responsible gun owner defending himself”, even though I was in no physical danger whatsoever. Basically, I do not think that the number of crimes prevented by responsible gun owners is zero, I do think that the hundreds per day espoused by folks like Kable is bullshit. I think that most of those reports are folks who overreacted to a situation and grabbed their guns when simply turning on a light would have been just as effective, and they then claimed that their guns saved them. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/604 "2013-02-18T04:08:52Z")
[quote=“Kable, post:602, topic:648729”] I gave you the low estimate dip shit. It’s the number accepted by gun-grabbers when they don’t like the 1 to 2.5 million number given by anonymous phone surveys. You can read more about it here: [http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/hemenway1.htm](http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/hemenway1.htm) But hey, if you guns don’t like science, we can go back to raw footage: [/QUOTE] Thanks for the link; that was an excellent report that seemed to back up my point: unless we have a clear definition of what a defensive gun use is, we won’t have any accurate way of estimating how many DGU’s are performed each year. And, they didn’t provide their definition, or the definition that was used to come up with the 55,000 number you used. Got a definition? ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/605 "2013-02-18T04:28:23Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Thanks for the link; that was an excellent report that seemed to back up my point: unless we have a clear definition of what a defensive gun use is, we won’t have any accurate way of estimating how many DGU’s are performed each year. And, they didn’t provide their definition, or the definition that was used to come up with the 55,000 number you used. > > Got a definition? 55,000 was the lowest number on wikipedia. The reference from wikipedia led to that paper you like so much, though that paper cited 65,000 as the low estimate, which more than backed up my point. If you want to know exactly how the questions were asked you can do a little homework. If you have what you think is a more accurate estimate I would be happy to hear it. Would this count? https://www.youtube.com/embed/LQcoNr6ZIEc?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/606 "2013-02-18T04:41:00Z")
[quote=“Kable, post:605, topic:648729”] 55,000 was the lowest number on wikipedia. The reference from wikipedia led to that paper you like so much, though that paper cited 65,000 as the low estimate, which more than backed up my point. If you want to know exactly how the questions were asked you can do a little homework. If you have what you think is a more accurate estimate I would be happy to hear it. Would this count? [/QUOTE] [Let’s try this.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=682733) ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/607 "2013-02-18T04:48:12Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > [Let’s try this.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=682733) Try it how? Annually is the USA, how often do you think guns are used defensively? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/608 "2013-02-18T05:15:27Z")
No idea. I figured that while we were waiting for somebody to come along with a survey and a definition of defensive gun use, we could try and figure out what our own definitions were. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/609 "2013-02-18T11:46:18Z")
So, country singer Mindy McCready is now dead of a gunshot. Suicide. How sad. She would have likely been a person who lost access to her guns due to mental health, domestic violence and/or drug and alcohol problems. Of course, that is provided her gun ownership were registered and background checks were available during any of the many, many documented red flags she presented. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/610 "2013-02-18T12:23:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > No idea. I figured that while we were waiting for somebody to come along with a survey and a definition of defensive gun use, we could try and figure out what our own definitions were. Would this meet your definition? https://www.youtube.com/embed/LQcoNr6ZIEc?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/611 "2013-02-18T12:43:44Z")
Fits my definition of “anecdotal”. Post ten of them, it proves something happened ten times. Post a hundred, proves that it happened a hundred times. Post a thousand, proves you have some serious OCD issues. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/612 "2013-02-18T12:56:23Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Fits my definition of “anecdotal”. Post ten of them, it proves something happened ten times. Post a hundred, proves that it happened a hundred times. Post a thousand, proves you have some serious OCD issues. Would you agree justified defensive gun use happens more often than makes the news? Why are you against guns in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/613 "2013-02-18T13:01:05Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > Why are you against guns in the first place? Because they kill more good people than bad. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/614 "2013-02-18T13:26:59Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Because they kill more good people than bad. Like beer? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/615 "2013-02-18T13:34:17Z")
Love beer! ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/616 "2013-02-18T13:37:36Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Love beer! But beer kills more good people than bad. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/617 "2013-02-18T13:43:25Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > Would you agree justified defensive gun use happens more often than makes the news? > > Why are you against guns in the first place? Never said I was. _You_ said I was. I’m really under no obligation to defend positions that you claim I hold. Kinda like guns, actually, born and raised in Texas, like nothing better than plinking beer cans with a .22. Pretty good shot, as well. Not likely to shoot anything that might prefer I didn’t, and empty beer cans have very low self-esteem. Your first question doesn’t make much sense. What do you mean, “makes the news”? In Podunk Falls, twenty miles west of the Docks of Boon, any human-on-human use of a gun is likely to make the news. Detroit, not so much. Are you trying to imply some conspiracy to withhold all the great stuff about guns? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/618 "2013-02-18T13:49:58Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > But beer kills more good people than bad. Not against their will. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/619 "2013-02-18T13:51:29Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Never said I was. _You_ said I was. I’m really under no obligation to defend positions that you claim I hold. I would be happy to hear you clarify your position. How do you think gun control laws should be changed? ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/620 "2013-02-18T13:52:56Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Not against their will. Sober people killed in drunk driving accidents will to be killed? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729.md?page=32)