NCJ Number
160182
Date Published
1992
Length
5 pages
Annotation
One overriding theme in the gun-control debate concerns the effectiveness and safety of guns as a means of self-defense; although guns can provide protection from criminals, their misuse can also cause accidental injuries or deaths.
Abstract
Although the effectiveness of citizen possession of firearms as a method of private crime deterrence is a hotly debated topic, several other issues are equally important. These subjects include the moral and ethical implications of armed self-defense, safety issues involved with the ownership of firearms, and the ability of the police to protect individual citizens from crime. Regarding the psychological, moral, and ethical problems involved in deciding to obtain and possess a firearm for self-defense, the owner must make both preplanned and on-the-spot decisions about when and for what purpose the weapon will be used. Even though our culture is becoming increasingly violent, many people who purchase a firearm for self-defense are reluctant to use it because they are not ethically or psychologically prepared to inflict injury or death on another human being. Deaths and injuries from accidental discharge of firearms are also a major source of contention in the firearms debate. Statistics show that deaths from gun accidents are relatively rare, particularly when compared to death from other types of accidents. Fewer than 2 percent of fatal gun accidents, excluding police negligence, involve a person accidently shooting someone mistaken for an intruder. Annually, fewer than 28 such incidents occur, compared to an estimated 700,000 defensive gun uses. A frank look at the limits of police protection causes many citizens to believe they must rely primarily upon self-defense to prevent themselves from being victimized. Access to a gun seems to many to be a necessary last resort when all other means of avoiding serious injury and possibly death from an attacker are not available.