You ever try looking?
Edward Rubin, dean of the Vanderbilt University Law School, says:
we hardly ever read of armed private citizens intervening effectively. How effective is an armed citizen likely to be if that person is in a bar and — quite legally and legitimately — under the influence of alcohol? How reliable will the person’s judgment be in that situation? How likely is it that this citizen will be steady enough to engage in a gun battle without further endangering innocent bystanders?
First, you’re not being truthful. The bill does not allow someone under the influence of alcohol to carry a weapon. It would remain illegal. Next, instances are posted daily here about armed citizens acting in self-defense. Other places track it as well. Not to mention that defensive gun uses are estimated at between 700K and 2.5M per year. And the Florida State University department of Criminology released a study indicating that people who employed self protection strategies reduced their likelihood of injury when compared to nonresistance.
The reason you don’t hear about them is because most instances do no result in the death of anyone.
Clenched fist salute: ACK.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:26 am
In class we were told we could respond to an active threat on your life. It was suggested we yell loudly “we have a gun” before and during the act of drawing as the perp would desist upon hearing the statement. This was from a 30 year veteran of a larger police department so I would expect that it works.
Just means most criminals do not have a death wish.
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:02 am
“The reason you don’t hear about them is because most instances do no result in the death of anyone.”
You COULD say that was true, the the George Off-Campus home invasion by the two goblins who made clear their plans to murder the men, and rape and murder the women, has enugh red meat to get any news agency make it a weekly special.
In many cases the attackers intentions are unclear (did he have the knife/gun/pipe to kill or just to scare?) and in most cases the perp isn’t caught because he runs away and the defender waits for the police (if they file a report at all).
Still in this case the goblins announced their intentions (Am I correct in my memory that the dead goblin had his pants down with plans to rape?) and one was killed, no idea if they caught the other guy.
The story was HUGE news in the Gunblogosphere, but nowhere else.
I’d say it runs MUCH deeper than the simple “If it bleeds it leads”, national news agencies don’t want these stories to get out.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Well, you don’t read about man or woman stares down criminal while their hand rests on their gun in case the criminal doesn’t take the hint. The key factor in almost all confrontations is prevention, which is a lot easier if you have the capability to handle escalation. Police call this force continuum starting with authoritative direction and ending with their gun, The gun is for handling those situations when lesser force hasn’t worked and self-defense is necessary.