Guns & Burglars -- PROTECT YOUR FAMILY

Lawyers Guns & Burglars, Dave Kopel:

An excellent, scholarly work (note the footnote references) regarding the benefits of gun ownership in our society. Some excerpts:

"The researchers found that six percent of the sample population had used a firearm in a burglary situation in the last twelve months. [FN32] Extrapolating the polling sample to the national population, the researchers estimated that in the last twelve months, there were approximately 1,896,842 incidents in which a householder retrieved a firearm but did not see an intruder. [FN33] There were an estimated 503,481 incidents in which the armed householder did see the burglar, [FN34] and 497,646 incidents in which the burglar was scared away by the firearm. [FN35] In other words, half a million times every year, burglars were likely forced to flee a home because they encountered an armed victim."

Emphasis mine.

"In contrast, Missouri is one of only nine states which has no provision for citizens to be issued permits to carry handguns for protection. Thus, a criminal in St. Louis faces a very high risk that the target of a home invasion may have a lawful gun for protection, but minimal risk that the target of a street robbery will have a lawful firearm for defense. The same authors who studied active St. Louis burglars conducted another study of active St. Louis armed robbers. [FN68] They found that '[s]ome of the offenders who favored armed robbery over other crimes *355 maintained that the offense was also safer than burglary. . ..' [FN69] As one armed robber put it: 'My style is, like, [I] don't have to be up in nobody's house in case they come in; they might have a pistol in the house or something.' [FN70]

On the streets, many of the St. Louis robbers 'routinely targeted law-abiding citizens,' [FN71] who, unlike their counterparts in most American states, were certain not to be carrying a gun for protection. Law-abiding citizens were chosen as robbery victims because, as one robber noted, 'You don't want to pick somebody dangerous; they might have a gun themselves.' [FN72]"

This was obviously written before we got our CCW law passed in Missouri in 2003. (Passed the Legislature, vetoed by the Socialist, Liberal, POS, Democrat Governor Bob Holden, veto overridden, anti gunners went to see their friends in court, friends in court stayed law, then Supreme Court reversed the lower court, and STILL the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County will not issue CCW Licenses) I GUESS THE DEMOCRATS LIKE THE ROBBERS AND DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT LAW ABIDING CITIZENS. Hey they wanted Felons to vote in Florida... get the point?

"Gun prohibitionists make all sorts of claims about the risks of 'a gun in the home.' [FN118] These claims have some validity if the gun is in the home of a violent felon, an alcoholic, or a person with suicidal tendencies. [FN119] But in responsible hands, guns are no danger at all, since the gun will only shoot in the direction in which it is pointed and will not fire unless the trigger is pulled. Whatever the risks of a gun in the home, the risks are borne almost entirely by the people in that home. The non-gun owners in the community get the benefit of safety from home invasion burglars, while assuming no risks at all. (The most significant external danger of a gun in the home is if the gun is stolen by a criminal, a risk that also applies to any other device that could be stolen and used by a criminal, such as a car or a crowbar, or any valuables that could be sold and the profits used to buy crime tools.)

Guns stay quiet and unobtrusive until needed. They do not bark all night and wake up the neighborhood, as dogs often do. Nor do guns rush into the street to attack and sometimes kill innocent people, as some guard dogs do. In New Zealand, where defensive gun ownership is unlawful, a surge of home invasions has led to greatly increased sales of aggressive dog breeds. [FN120] It is not clear that New Zealand neighborhoods are better off with more Rottweilers (which may be owned without restrictions) and fewer shotguns."

Duh. For all of you out there who don't own guns and defend your homes and receive the benefit of less likely home invasions because law abiding citizens like me do.... you are welcome. Now don't mess with the Second Amendment, or you will be ungrateful pinheads !!!