Those statistics have human faces. By denying citizens the right to carry guns, some local and state governments are creating the equivalent of hundreds of Littleton massacres every year. In 1993 research conducted by liberal criminologist Dr. Gary Kleck found that U.S. gun owners use their weapons 2.45 million times a year to ward off criminal attack. That's once every 13 seconds. Without guns, homeowners and their families would be at the mercy of murderers, rapists, burglars, and other thugs.
Guns allow even the weak and elderly a chance to defend themselves against crime.
A three-year study by the National Institute of Justice surveyed 1,800 prisoners and confirmed that criminals strongly fear meeting armed resistance by potential victims. If a criminal knows he may be met with a gun, he is far less likely to violate a home or commit an assault. In the 1950's, children had far greater access to guns than today. Guns could even be ordered through the mail. Yet there was no serious problem with illegal guns in schools.