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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Travis_Bickle who wrote (108623)	4/13/2009 2:55:39 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542788

Too bad the 2.5 million number isn't borne out by any other studies or data anywhere. We covered that here last week, I believe.

To: Travis_Bickle who wrote (108623)	4/13/2009 3:03:54 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 542788

Since most (probably a vast majority) of cases of defense by brandishing don't get reported the most solid data we have on the number of times this happens isn't very solid. We have conflicting studies, most of which show its not infrequent, but the specific claimed numbers in different studies are pretty far apart. Other factors that we don't have (and in these cases really can't have) any hard data on is how many people are saved from being victims of crime by the general deterence effect of the idea that they might have a gun which they are carrying concealed (whether or not they actually are doing so), and how many crimes never happen because self defense with a gun causes a criminal to be killed or arrested. What we have for such things is at best widely varying educated guesses. Maybe "very educated" guesses because people do actual studies, but with the studies so far apart people with different opinions on the overall issue tend to gravitate towards the particular studies that favor their side either as an act of deliberate biased selection, or because that's what they get exposed to, or because the ideas in the study just seem to make sense to them.