From: jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: gun(s) for carry in a car
Date: 10 Oct 92 02:50:36 GMT
Reply-To: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II)
Distribution: houston
Organization: River Parishes Programming, Austin, Republic of Texas

In article <BvsCoC.CCw@rice.edu> kossack@qvi.com writes:
>In article <7OCT199213374101@jetson.uh.edu> schieber@jetson.uh.edu (Schieber, Jay D.) writes:
>- This is truly discomforting.  The police are openly condoning the 
>- carrying of fatal weapons by the masses.
>
>	Well, considering that the police are unable to prevent violent  
>   crime from occurring, what is wrong with allowing citizens to carry 
>   tools that will improve their chances of surviving a criminal attack? 

Submitted for your approval:

| Because national data is not collected regarding the private use
| of arms in self protection, most national estimates are based
| on projections from local data.  Using a number of such sources
| for 1980, Kleck estimates that between 1527-2819 felons were killed
| by civilians in what were later adjudicated to be self-defense killings,
| 8700-16600 felons were wounded, and there were approximately
| 1 million cases where a gun was fired as a warning but no one was
| hit, or was waved, pointed, or referred to without being fired as 
| acts of self defense. 
| 
| Effectiveness:
| 
| Kleck examined data for robberies and assault for the years 
| 1979-1985. He looked at attack, crime completion, and injury
| rates correlated with the means of self-defense.
| 
| He found:
| 
| 
| Self Defense           Robbery			  Assault
| Method		       Injuries			  Injuries
| 
| Gun                     17.4%                      12.1%
| Knife                   40.3                       29.5
| Other weapon            22.0                       25.1
| Physical force          50.8                       52.1
| Tried to get help
| or frighten attacker    48.9                       40.1
| Threaten or reason
| with attacker           30.7                       24.7
| Nonviolent resistance
| and evasion             34.9                       25.5
| Other measures          26.5                       20.7
| 
| No resistance           24.7                       27.3
| 
| 
| Thus, gun resistance was the most effective means for avoiding injury.

>"25 States allow anyone to buy a gun, strap it on, and walk down the    
> street with no permit of any kind: some say it's crazy.  However, 4   
> out of 5 US murders are committed in the other half of the country:    
> so who is crazy?"                           --  Andrew Ford

Texas does not allow law-abiding citizens to protect themselves outside
of the home.

Here's a few lines for Andrew's earlier article -

                Open       
                Carry         1990          1991
               Status*      murders      murders
TX Texas          R          2389         2660    [ .23 per 1,000 pop. ]
IN Indiana        O           344          380    [ .07 per 1,000 pop. ]

Population figures are based on the 1980 census.  Conclusion is left to
the reader.
-- 
John F. Haugh II        [  TSAKC  ] | When Bill Clinton toured L.A. after the
Ma Bell: (512) 251-2151 [ DoF #17 ] | riots, instead of praising law abiding
!'s: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh   | citizens who defended home and family, he
@'s: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org          | called for a ban on the tools they used.
Newsgroups: tx.politics