-Caveat Lector- http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20010330/t000027206.html Friday, March 30, 2001 ...Others Fear Being Placed at the Mercy of Criminals By JOHN R. LOTT JR. Hardly a day seems to go by without national news coverage of yet another shooting. Yet when was the last time you heard a story on the national evening news about a citizen saving a life with a gun? Few people realize that civilians use guns defensively to stop about 2 million crimes a year, five times more often than guns are used to commit crimes, according to national surveys. Last week, a police officer received national attention for stopping a school shooting in El Cajon. Where was the similar national news coverage when equally heroic civilians used their guns to stop other school shootings, such as the ones in Pearl, Miss., and Edinboro, Penn.? Some of this lopsided coverage is understandable. An innocent person's murder is more newsworthy than when a victim brandishes a gun and an attacker runs away with no crime committed. Unlike the crimes that are avoided, bad events provide emotionally gripping pictures. Yet covering only the bad events creates the impression that guns only cost lives. Even the rare local coverage of defensive gun use seldom involves more than very brief stories. Newsworthiness also dictates that these stories are not the typical examples of self-defense, but the rare instances where the attacker is shot. In fact, in 98% of the cases, simply brandishing a gun is sufficient to stop a crime. Research at Florida State University and at the University of Chicago indicates that only one out of 1,000 defensive gun uses results in the attacker's death. Here are some of the 20 defensive gun use stories that I found reported in their respective local media in a single week, March 11-17: * Clearwater, Fla.: At 1:05 a.m., a man started banging on a patio door, briefly left to beat on the family's truck, but returned and tore open the patio door. At that point, after numerous shouts not to break into the home, a 16-year-old boy fired a single rifle shot, wounding the attacker. * Columbia, S.C.: As two gas station employees left work just after midnight, two men attempted to rob them. The sheriff told a local television station: "Two men came out of the bushes, one of the men had a shovel handle that had been broken off and began to beat [the male employee] . . . about the head, neck and then the arms." The male employee broke away long enough to draw a handgun from his pocket and wound his attacker, who later died. The second suspect, turned in by relatives, faces armed robbery and possible murder charges. * Little Rock, Ark.: By firing one shot with a rifle, a 19-year-old man defended himself against three armed men who were threatening to assault him. One of them was treated for a flesh wound. * Detroit: A mentally disturbed man yelled that the president was going to have him killed and started firing at people in passing cars. A man at the scene, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, fired shots that forced the attacker to stop shooting and run away. The attacker barricaded himself in an empty apartment, fired at police and ultimately committed suicide. * West Palm Beach, Fla.: After being beaten during a robbery at his home just two days earlier, a homeowner began carrying a handgun in his pocket. When another robber attacked him, the homeowner shot and wounded his assailant. * Grand Junction, Colo.: On his way home from work, a contractor picked up three young hitchhikers. He fixed them a steak dinner at his house and was preparing to offer them jobs. Two of the men grabbed his kitchen knives and started stabbing him in the back, head and hands. The attackers stopped only when he told them that he could give them money. Instead of money, the contractor grabbed a pistol and shot one of the attackers. The contractor said, "If I'd had a trigger lock, I'd be dead." * Columbia Falls, Mont.: An ex-boyfriend is accused of entering a woman's home and sexually assaulting her. She got away long enough to get her handgun and hold her attacker at gunpoint until police arrived. * Salt Lake City: Two robbers began firing their guns as soon as they entered a pawn shop. The owner and his son returned fire. One of the robbers was shot in the arm; both later were arrested. The shop owner's statement said it all: "If we did not have our guns, we would have had several people dead here." * Baton Rouge, La.: At 5:45 a.m., a crack addict kicked in the back door of a house and went in. The attacker was fatally shot as he charged toward the homeowner. What advice would gun control advocates have given these victims? Should they have behaved passively? Unfortunately, by making it difficult for law-abiding people to get the most effective tool to defend themselves, gun control often puts victims' lives in jeopardy. - - - John R. Lott Jr. Is a Senior Research Scholar at the Yale University Law School and the Author of "More Guns, Less Crime" (University of Chicago Press, 2000) Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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