"Excerpts from a recent report : `` It has been claimed that in the United States , 'guns are used for defensive purposes about five times as often as they are used for crimes'.1,2 This claim is made even though the criminal chooses both the time and place of the crime , most households donÂ ’ t have guns , and very few of the individuals who own guns are carrying at any time ... `` After controlling for other aspects of the surveys , these surveys indicate that criminal gun use is far more common that self-defense gun use . For example , in May 2000 , a Washington Post national random-digit dial survey asked 'Not counting military service , have you ever been threatened with a gun or shot at ? ' Twenty-three percent ( 23 % ) said yes . In that same month ( May 2000 ) , a Gallup national random-digit dial survey asked 'Not including military combat , have you ever used a gun to defend yourself either by firing it or threatening to fire it ? ' Seven percent ( 7 % ) of respondents said yes .... `` So how can anyone claim that there are more self-defense gun uses than criminal gun uses ? They do so by comparing different types of surveys . They compare the results of Box B with Box C ! However , it is completely inappropriate to compare estimates which come from two radically different survey methodologies ..... `` Second , there is no accepted understanding of what constitutes a criminal or a self-defense gun use . For example , criminals often believe that their gun use during a crime was in self-defense ... `` The opportunity for a law-abiding gun owner to use a gun in a socially desirable manner -- against a criminal during the commission of a crime -- will occur , for the average gun owner , perhaps once in a lifetime . It is a rare event . Other than self-defense , the use of a gun against another human is socially undesirable . Regular citizens with guns , who are sometimes tired , angry , drunk , or afraid , and who are not trained in dispute resolution , have lots of opportunities for inappropriate gun uses . People engage in innumerable annoying and somewhat hostile interactions with each other in the course of a lifetime . It should not be surprising that inappropriate , socially undesirable 'self-defense ' gun uses by people who believe they are law-abiding citizens outnumber the appropriate and socially beneficial use of guns.6 `` http : //www.hsph.harvard.edu/research ... pring_2009.pdf What do we learn ? The claim that guns are used much more often in self defense is based on making inappropriate comparisons . If the same survey methodology is used to measure both criminal and defensive gun use , many more people will report that they have been a victim of a gun crime than having used a gun in self defense . Most of the `` defensive gun uses `` reported in studies that ask every respondent directly about gun use are actually criminal uses of guns ."
"I learned a few things from the post . The author claimed `` most households donÂ ’ t have guns `` . According to 1997 stats , 25 % of ALL US adults owned firearms . If you assume that there are typically two adults per household , that means 50 % of households have guns , so the statement is false . On a personal note , someone tried to break into my brother 's apartment shortly after he was married . He quickly opened the door , yelled `` freeze MFer or I 'll blow your head off ! `` while holding a short-barrelled shotgun and watched the perp # # # # himself . being half asleep and in possession of a slightly modified shotgun , my brother did n't call the cops to report this self-defensive use of a firearm ."
"most households ’ t have guns"
"According to 1997 stats , 25 % of ALL US adults owned firearms . If you assume that there are typically two adults per household , that means 50 % of households have guns , so the statement is false ."