But the reality is that at any one time, only 75,000 to 80,000 police are on duty to protect about 271 million people - which is why police primarily investigate crimes rather than prevent them. Therefore, people's best security against crime is their own willingness to defend themselves. 38 Research supports the view that an armed response works. For example, women faced with assault are 2.5 times less likely to suffer serious injury if they respond with a firearm rather than trying to defend themselves with less effective weapons or by offering no resistance. According to the Department of Justice, only one-fifth of the victims who defended themselves with firearms suffered injury, compared to almost half of those who defended themselves with other weapons or with none.
Firearms are the safest, most effective way to protect oneself against criminal activity.
The overall rate of serious crime in the U.S. is at a 20-year low. One reason for this drop in crime is liberalized concealed carry laws. But not every city or state has experienced the general decline in crime rates. States like Illinois that forbid the concealed carrying of firearms have, on average, double the murder rate and a 20 percent higher rape rate than states with liberal concealed carry laws. States that allow concealed carry but also allow local officials to decide whether individuals get concealed carry permits have issued relatively few permits and suffer a 30 percent higher murder rate and a 19 percent higher incidence of rape, on average, than states with more liberal laws.