The Prohibitionists say you don\u2019t 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\u2019t 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\u2019s deadly force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s several thousand police officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t feel bad, Chicago \u2013 it\u2019s 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\u2019s law enforcement community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026meaning that every dead criminal is potentially one or more innocent lives saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n