On the Right Side of the Bullet | Clayton E. Cramer | Cato Institute: Commentary

On the Right Side of the Bullet | Clayton E. Cramer | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'How often do [defensive gun] incidents happen? While the results from studies vary, the numbers are large. The National Crime Victimization Survey, for various procedural reasons, is at the low end, showing 108,000 such cases a year (although this was some years back, when crime rates were higher than now). The widely reported Kleck/Gertz study, which has its own set of problems, showed a range of 830,000 to 2.45 million defensive gun uses per year. Other studies have fallen solidly in the middle, with hundreds of thousands of defensive gun uses per year.'

'Over a period of more than seven years, we compiled almost 5,000 such accounts. Most ended happily, with a burglar, carjacker or robber held for police. Some ended in bloodshed, as in the case of Sarah McKinley. Very few ended with the victim injured or killed.'

'Do law-abiding adults responsibly use guns in self-defense? The evidence we have amassed says yes, and frequently.'