This is murder

My grandfather always had a legal " Saturday Night Special" in his dining room drawer. One night my family came by on a regular visit to clean his home. He was maybe in his late 80's and met us at the door gun drawn. Fortunately my Dad got him in touch with who we were. Sold that gun some time later. Do you see the problem there?
 
I've just found the Gun Violence Archive on the link in the OP.

This statistic hit me in the eye

There were 27 people killed and 63 injured in shooting incidents on Christmas Day.
Click to expand...

Intrigued I went to the Gun Violence Archive (http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/) and found this mission statement

The Gun Violence Archive is an online archive of gun violence incidents collected from over 1,200 media, government and commercial sources daily in an effort to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence.

Mission Statement

Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online, primarily if not exclusively on this website and summary ledgers at www.facebook.com/gunviolencearchive.

It is hoped that this information will inform and assist those engaged in discussions and activities concerning gun violence, including analysis of proposed regulations or legislation relating to gun safety usage. GVA is not, by design an advocacy group.

The mission of GVA is to document incidents of gun violence and gun crime to provide raw, verified data to those who need to use it in their research, advocacy or writing.
Click to expand...
Since this is not an advocacy group it is reasonable to trust the data and with this in mind please note the following statistics

2015 Gun Violence Archive
Number of deaths 13,253
Number of injuries 26,756
Number of children (0-11) Killed/injured 693
Number of teens (12-17) Killed/injured 2,668
Mass shooting incidents 329
Officer involved incident 4,335
Home invasion incident 4,335
Defensive use incident 1,258
Accidental shooting incident 1,927​

Date validated Dec 13 2013
To compare with 2014 see here: http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/past-tolls

It is interesting to try to draw conclusions from the raw data but that would be a mistake IMO.

For example - there were only 319 mass shooting incidents in 2015 so that's not too bad is it?
Not too bad until we realise that this is equivalent to one for every day over a ten month period.
In that light it is not that good is it?

There were 4,335 home invasion incidents and 1,258 defensive use incidents.
Some of those defensive use incidents may have been in the context of home invasion but it would be necessary to look at each incident to see how many home invasions were successfully defended.
Or how many attempted robberies on the street were avoided.

Still it would be interesting to trawl through the data because it would seem to be verified with references.
 

One of the more interesting - and rarely remarked upon - aspects of gun ownership is that one cannot count the number of times a home invasion, robbery, mugging, etc. has been averted just by a show of force - by bringing out the weapon and intimidating the perp into fleeing. These incidents are not usually reported.
 
SifuPhil said:
One of the more interesting - and rarely remarked upon - aspects of gun ownership is that one cannot count the number of times a home invasion, robbery, mugging, etc. has been averted just by a show of force - by bringing out the weapon and intimidating the perp into fleeing. These incidents are not usually reported.
Click to expand...

If they're not reported how can you know they're happening?
 
Well, I don't have figures - of course not! - but you might be surprised at how many times there are incidents that are not reported.

"Mr. Smart"?!? :confused:
 
SifuPhil said:
One of the more interesting - and rarely remarked upon - aspects of gun ownership is that one cannot count the number of times a home invasion, robbery, mugging, etc. has been averted just by a show of force - by bringing out the weapon and intimidating the perp into fleeing. These incidents are not usually reported.
Click to expand...

We just had one here in Albuquerque this last weekend that WAS reported. A young girl, home alone with her younger sister, scared an intruder off with her BB gun.
 
Warrigal said:
You mean the home owner doesn't bother to notify the police?
I find that hard to believe, Mr Smart.
Click to expand...

Everything reported to police does not make the news, at least no here. I think he meant it didn't make the news. And I, also, believe they happen quite frequently and do not make the news because they are not spectacular enough -- no blood or violence. The Albuquerque incident made the news because it was a 13 year old girl home alone with her younger sister, who foiled the intruder.
 
mitchezz said:
Who shoots at someone before knowing who it is? At the very least she should have given a warning before shooting.


http://www.news.com.au/world/north-...d/news-story/2c2fa137f061129adc65918040d7be6f
Click to expand...


Well -- since I live alone, and anybody -- family, or friends -- who knows me would know to holler "Hey, it's me" if they came into my dark house at 3:00 AM, and since if it were cops or fire personnel they'd verbally identify themselves, and since only two other people on the planet have an key and they both know I keep a gun near my bed and would definitely holler out, and if somebody unexpected was coming down my back hall toward my bedroom silently at 3:00 AM . . . .
 
Butterfly said:
Well -- since I live alone, and anybody -- family, or friends -- who knows me would know to holler "Hey, it's me" if they came into my dark house at 3:00 AM, and since if it were cops or fire personnel they'd verbally identify themselves, and since only two other people on the planet have an key and they both know I keep a gun near my bed and would definitely holler out, and if somebody unexpected was coming down my back hall toward my bedroom silently at 3:00 AM . . . .
Click to expand...

Well, there goes the New Years surprise I had planned ... :(

Just having worked as a bouncer I can attest to how many incidents are not reported nor placed in the media.
 
SifuPhil said:
Well, I don't have figures - of course not! - but you might be surprised at how many times there are incidents that are not reported.

"Mr. Smart"?!? :confused:
Click to expand...

So someone breaks into your home.. you shoot them.. or just scare them away and you wouldn't call the cops? Seriously?.....
 
SifuPhil said:
One of the more interesting - and rarely remarked upon - aspects of gun ownership is that one cannot count the number of times a home invasion, robbery, mugging, etc. has been averted just by a show of force - by bringing out the weapon and intimidating the perp into fleeing. These incidents are not usually reported.
Click to expand...

There are any number of reports that show evidence of armed citizens protecting themselves or their property. However, the media never reports on these incidents. Here is one such report that claims that armed citizens stop as many as 2.5 million crimes each year. I think that number may be a bit optimistic, but for anyone who wants to do the research, this report contains several footnotes where its data can be verified.

https://www.gunowners.org/sk0802htm.htm
 
Some of you people scare me.

I think some people have the laws a bit misconstrued. Reading laws, interpreting laws and then adjudicating the laws are sometimes done by people that just think they know what they're talking about.

You can be 100% right according to a law and still be found guilty. A person may also be acquitted or found innocent, but be a huge loser in civil court.

Am I being vague enough? Well, some laws are also vague and really don't mean what some people think they mean.
 
If someone were breaking into my house.... even if I scared him away... I would call the police.. at least to alert them someone like that is on the prowl in my neighborhood.. I can't begin to understand who wouldn't... unless of course they were breaking the law themselves..
 
911 said:
Some of you people scare me.

I think some people have the laws a bit misconstrued. Reading laws, interpreting laws and then adjudicating the laws are sometimes done by people that just think they know what they're talking about.

You can be 100% right according to a law and still be found guilty. A person may also be acquitted or found innocent, but be a huge loser in civil court.

Am I being vague enough? Well, some laws are also vague and really don't mean what some people think they mean.
Click to expand...

:lofl:
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top