But the suits ignore that guns also prevent bad things by making it easier for victims to defend themselves. Unlike the tobacco suits, gun makers have powerful arguments about the benefits of gun ownership. More than 450,000 crimes, including 10,744 murders, are committed with guns each year. Police are important in reducing crime rates, but they virtually always arrive after a crime has been committed. When criminals confront people, resistance with a gun is by far the safest course of action.
Guns help offset the strength differential between male criminals and female victims.
The chances of serious injury from an attack are 2.5 times greater for women offering no resistance than for those resisting with guns. My own research has found that increased gun ownership rates are associated with lower crime rates. Poor people in the highest crime areas benefit the most from owning guns. It is hypocritical for mayors to demand that poor people live in high crime areas without being able to own guns, while the mayors would never enter these areas without armed guards. Chicago claims that the gun makers made their weapons attractive to gang members through low price, easy concealability, corrosion resistance, accurate firing and high firepower.