The Prohibitionists say you don’t need guns for self-defense because murders outnumber bad guys killed by armed citizens in self-defense. Those Prohibitionists are a bloody-minded lot, aren’t they? They prefer to ignore the fact that most citizen defensive gun usages end without anyone being killed, when the bad guy(s) flee or occasionally surrender. They also ignore the fact that the great majority of innocent victims of murder were unarmed and incapable of fighting back successfully against the murderer’s deadly force.
But, hey, if all they look at is homicides, we have the cards to win that game too. A few years ago a Chicago newspaper, barely recovering from the fact that Illinois had become the last state to legalize concealed carry, was horrified to discover that there had been more justifiable homicides of violent criminals by armed citizens than by the city’s several thousand police officers.
Don’t feel bad, Chicago – it’s a nationwide thing. A recent study of justifiable homicides by the FBI shows that nationwide, law-abiding armed citizens have been killing more violent criminals than the nation’s law enforcement community.
Why? Because the citizen is right there when the deadly attack on him or her takes place, and the waiting time for lawful armed response is essentially zero. Remember, homicide is justifiable only in situations of immediate, otherwise unavoidable danger of death or grave bodily harm…meaning that every dead criminal is potentially one or more innocent lives saved.
Read it here: Justifiable Homicide 2015-2024
Proof that Guns Save Lives.
A breakout by state rather than region would be helpful. Since laws vary by state and not by region, that is actionable information.
Unfortunately, data from a state such Illinois, is ALL useless. The state and more specifically, the Chicago metro area, have changed the names and classifications of crimes such that they don’t match anything on FBI report lists. These crimes are unreported because they don’t “fit the statical categories”, implying lower rates than reality. This is done intentionally by leftist controlled areas, to give the impression of lower crime rates than reality. That’s how Jabba the Pritsker can make the claims he does.
Oh, but I can hear Gifford’s screaming now…
“See? Those bloodthirsty gun-owners SHOT DOWN all those criminals with only minor provocation! They OVERreacted. They didn’t HAVE to do that … because the COPS just take the bad guys into custody WITHOUT shooting them. Obviously it is better for the cops to handle this than for vigilantes to take law into their own hands.”
I hope I don’t have to mark this as SARCASM?
HYmmm can anyone else here say “Daniel Penny”?
Giffords doesn’t seem to remember that private citizens CAN arrest bad guys without shooting them; “citizen’s arrest” is still legally a thing. I’d even wager that most armed citizens would try that first — to stop the crime and hold the criminal for the police.
However, armed citizens don’t typically carry restraints like handcuffs or zip ties, so their ability to keep a subdued criminal on-site is much reduced. And non-LEOs don’t have the “official” authority of a police officer (and the criminals know it), so it’s somewhat riskier to try and hold criminals, and they lack the justification to pursue.
Better and safer to let the bad guys flee and “take the W” with simply stopping the crime, and let the police take over from there.
(Also, interesting what anti-freedom groups consider “minor provocation.” “He was only swinging a machete at your face! You didn’t have to KILL him!” *headdesk*)
Interesting, yes, agreed a state by state would be great. Look at the southern states, 1748 killed by private citizens! Perps worry about death by cop, I’d say better watch out for the CCW or armed homeowner.
What rear sight setup is on the 1911 shown? Anyone know who makes it?
It’s from Wilson Combat.
Dang, that’s some solid info!
Not quite zero but I’m currently working on getting my armed response down to a sub-second time.
An Armed Society Is A Polite Society Colonel Jeff Cooper
Not to nit pick, or take anything away from the colonel, but us (really) old SF readers will recognize that as a quote from Robert A. Heinlein, circa 1942. Chapter 15 of ‘Beyond This Horizon’ Originally Anthologized in 1942 and later published in whole in 1948. That would have made Jeff about 22 at the time of the original publication.
“Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization.” — RAH
If you enjoy SF and haven’t read Heinlein you’re missing out. Starship Troopers (not the stupid movie) would be a great place to start. Still in print after 67 years! Read him from the time I was about 12 (mid 60’s) until he stopped writing.
The ‘movie’ was deliberately made as a satire. The result, trash.
While correlation does not, necessarily, imply causation; it may be instructive to compare the figures (and map) from the referenced DOJ Justifiable Homicide Report with the demographic information provided here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_African-American_population
The information linked below may also indicate a related factor:
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/the-most-armed-states/
In other words, there seems to be a correlation between States with (a) large African-American population percentages, (b) highest rates of firearm ownership and/or concealed carry permit holders, and (c) the numbers of justifiable homicides committed by Police/Armed Citizens.
The complex interaction between these variables could probably fill a book and/or justify a major research study. The problem is, none of our universities seem capable of conducting such a study in an unbiased fashion (that is, without the taint of political correctness.)
The optic shown is the Leupold Deltapoint pro, with the add on “Deltapoint iron sight.”
The optic system with back up iron sights may require a custom height front sight to co-witness properly. As this is on a Wilson Combat, it was probably properly configured By Wilson.
Dawson Precision has detailed instructions on determining the proper height of front sights on their website, https://dawsonprecision.com/sight-calculator/
I’ve always thought it somewhat morbid, and ironic, that they only consider it a valid DGU if someone dies.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, tooling up to write my politicians in the (likely vain) hope of getting the leftist majority in our state government NOT to enact all the firearms laws they want to.
Would love to see anyone look into and publish the 7500 + US deaths caused each year by people driving with Revoked Drivers License per NHTSA.
Gun Prohibitionists don’t like facts. All through history, it is common for unarmed victims to be ambushed by armed bad guys. That’s why non-criminals need to be armed all the time, everywhere. The criminal picks the time and place for the ambush, not the victim.
Remember October 7th, 2023 in Israel? Those Israelis were trusting their government and its high tech wall to protect them. They found out they need to be armed, all the time, everywhere.
One thing that I would like to point out is that going unarmed can be an existential form of suicide if done in the presence of a threat from homicidal criminal. Furthermore, the likelihood of a threat from criminals diminishes greatly if the outlaws need to fear immediate, effective consequences crimes.
…of crimes. Also, the new universal online practice of the Internet-plus leading texts with suggested next words is getting distracting.
See, and one would think the Giffords crew would be over the friggin’ MOON that so many attempted crimes end up thwarted with no shots fired — IOW, without “gun violence.”
But no. Instead, they revise the definition of “gun violence” to incorporate Defensive Gun Uses, up to and including simply presenting the firearm and repelling the criminal without shooting him/her. That way, they can claim “gun violence” even when there are no “victims.”
That tells me that they don’t care about the crimes stopped, or the lives saved, or even the “gun violence.” They just want to end private firearm ownership, and care not one whit about the consequences.
Well, whatever they have to do to justify their existence and stump for donations, I guess….