Some Stats on Citizen Self-Defense Shootings

[ELB]

Within various other threads I have called attention to Clayton Cramer and his Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog, wherein he compiles news accounts of non-LEO use of guns in self defense. He started doing this in response to an anti-gun professor who claimed that actual self-defense use of guns by citizens was very rare.

Mr. Cramer started this blog in 2003, and recently made the 4000th entry on it. He discusses this on his personal blog at http://www.claytoncramer.com/weblog/200 ... 2914958524" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In his blog post, he compiles some stats. I won't steal all his thunder, but I will post some here as a teaser. The go RTWT.

- Six incidents in which a defender's gun was taken away and used against him
- One hundred-eighty-three incidents in which the criminal's gun was taken away and used against him
- Texas had the highest number of stories (506). Florida had roughly three-quarters as many as Texas. California had a little over half as many.
- One case of mistaken identity, where the cops thought the good guy was the bad guy. Nobody got hurt. (Good job LEOs on ID'ing who is who in these situations. Don't get cocky and slack off! Keep up the good work! )
- How many defenders got shot? How many got killed? How many male/female defenders? How many CHL holders? Go check out his blog post to find out. Update: Also, read it carefully to see how many home invasions occurred among the 4000 incidents. I was surprised at the answer to all of these questions...

Lots more good stuff at Clayton's blog, including a good discussion of exactly what the recent 9th Circ Court opinion on 2A incorporation really means.

[bdickens]

Good stuff, but it is still anecdotal evidence.

[seamusTX]

As opposed to what?

You can't conduct controlled experiments involving criminal behavior.

- Jim

[ELB]

As opposed to what?

You can't conduct controlled experiments involving criminal behavior.

- Jim

Exactly. Controlled experiments are always easier to draw conclusions from, but anecdotal evidence can be, and is commonly used as well, particularly for sociological or political studies, where one is surveying what people are actually doing. ("Case studies" are a form of anecdotal evidence). It is preferred one carefully and formally gather data using verified instruments, but it is clearly not possible in many cases. The fact that evidence is anecdotal does NOT mean it can be easily dismissed.

In Clayton's case, he has resoundingly demonstrated that using guns for self-defense is hardly rare. Given the number of cases he has collected, the stats one can compile from them (and the strength of those numbers) powerfully suggest some significant trends in self-defense.

[KFP]

Great resource, thanks for posting!

[bryang]

Very interesting, thanks for the post.

-geo