The Gun Control Debate by Tatman Lianna;

Author:Tatman, Lianna;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Gun Ownership Does Not Equal Safety

One of the reasons why some gun owners oppose safe-storage laws is because they say it would make it harder for them to use the gun as protection from dangerous intruders. For example, if someone were to break into their house, they would have to unlock the gun cabinet and load the gun. In the time they are doing that, they fear, someone could either rob them or shoot them before they get to their own gun.

Gun control advocates and statistics experts point out that this fear is out of proportion to the threat. Professor Harold Pollack, co-director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, explained,

I had the Chicago police run the number on homicides. In 2011, precisely one homicide listed “burglary” as the motive. Nationwide, there are about 100 burglary-homicides every year. When you compare that to more than 18,000 gun suicides, the conclusions seem pretty obvious …

Home protection provides a common, all-too-understandable motive to buy a gun. Few things are scarier than the possibility that some violent intruder will break in when you and your loved-ones are home …

Yet having guns around brings risks, too. Practically speaking, it’s not the incredibly rare risk of mass homicide, but the everyday risks of injury, accident, domestic altercations [fights], and suicide. The relative risks matter. And the fact is: lethal home invasions and burglaries are incredibly rare. You might not think so, since dramatic cases stick in your mind and tend to receive disproportionate press coverage. These cases are rare nonetheless.32

Keeping a loaded gun handy in case of an intruder can also sometimes have tragic consequences. There have been many instances of people mistaking family members or neighbors for an intruder and shooting them, which would not happen if they had to take the time to unlock a gun cabinet and load a gun. For example, in April 2018, a Florida news outlet reported, “Allison Simmons went to the bathroom … and used her cellphone for a flashlight … When she opened the [bedroom] door, Nathan Simmons thought she was an intruder and shot her twice, according to police.”33 Allison lived, but others have not been so lucky.

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