http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/does-owning-a-gun-make-you-safer Opposing Views - Does Owning A Gun Make You Safer? http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/gary-kleck-numbers-often-disputed We’re a bit surprised at the suggestion that violent crime, or the one quarter of it that is committed with guns, is at a particularly high level. The FBI just reported crime statistics for 2007, showing that violent crime and murder have... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:41:23 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/gary-kleck-numbers-often-disputed http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/gary-kleck-numbers-often-disputed Gary Kleck's study of defensive gun use has been shown by numerous scholars to not be plausible.  His 2.5 million defensive gun uses a year has been called "the most outrageous number mentioned in a policy discussion by an elected official."... States United to Prevent Gun Violence Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:37:33 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/gary-kleck-numbers-often-disputed http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/fewer-guns-in-northeast-lower-violent-crime-rate The NRA argues that violent crime is down because there are more guns.  Causal effect is always hard to determine.  Did more guns really lead to less crime or were there many other factors such as improvements in the economy, more... States United to Prevent Gun Violence Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:37:19 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/fewer-guns-in-northeast-lower-violent-crime-rate http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/ceasefirepa-s-simplistic-statement-is-demonstratably-false CeaseFirePA's simplistic statement is demonstrably false. As the number of guns in the United States has steadily risen by several million a year, to an all-time high, the number of accidental firearm-related deaths, in general and among children in... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:23:23 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/ceasefirepa-s-simplistic-statement-is-demonstratably-false http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/school-shootings-are-exceedingly-rare As stated by the Departments of Justice and Education, in their joint, annual "Indicators of School Crime and Safety" reports, school shootings are exceedingly rare, and children are much safer at school than when away from school. NRA has long... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:23:23 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/school-shootings-are-exceedingly-rare http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/the-notion-that-more-guns-automatically-means-more-crime-is-false As we noted in our comments on another issue raised in this forum, the notion that "more guns automatically means more crime" is demonstrably false. Since 1991, the number of guns in America has risen by more than four million annually, to an... Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:23:23 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/the-notion-that-more-guns-automatically-means-more-crime-is-false http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/you-have-the-right-to-life A human being has the right to life, which means each human has a right to defend that life, hence that means that you have a right to the means to defend the life. Second Amendment Sisters Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:43 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/you-have-the-right-to-life http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/guns-save-lives The fact that firearms have been responsible for saving multitudes of innocent lives is, unfortunately, one of the world’s best-kept secrets. Indisputable studies have concluded that there are 2.5 million defensive... Second Amendment Sisters Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:41 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/guns-save-lives http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/a-nation-without-weapons-crime-and-hatred-is-not-a-realistic-goal A nation without weapons, crime and hatred might seem to be an admirable goal, but it is hardly a realistic one, since the criminals among us will never comply. The world has become a smaller place thanks to technology, and the freedom we enjoy... Second Amendment Sisters Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:38 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/a-nation-without-weapons-crime-and-hatred-is-not-a-realistic-goal http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/a-gun-is-an-equalizer If you are a woman or a man who owns a gun, you have an equalizer. Since most assailants will be bigger and stronger than the person that they are attacking, and almost 90% of those assailants will not have a weapon of their own, you and your... Second Amendment Sisters Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:34 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/a-gun-is-an-equalizer http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-police-are-not-there-to-protect-you People have been taught that if you are in need of help to call the police.   However, how many in progress crimes do the police make it to?   The supreme court of the United States ruled in Castle Rock vs. Gonzalez that it is not... Second Amendment Sisters Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:25 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-police-are-not-there-to-protect-you http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/immediate-access-to-guns-saves-lives Can one support the right to keep and bear arms while also advocating “reasonable restrictions” on firearms?   The problem with this compromise approach is that it threatens the safety of good people.   Consider a... Gun Owners of America Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:11 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/immediate-access-to-guns-saves-lives http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/us-gun-control-laws-threaten-people-s-safety The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had long been criticized for generating questionable studies that gun control organizations have used in defense of their cause.   So imagine... Gun Owners of America Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:07 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/us-gun-control-laws-threaten-people-s-safety http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/guns-used-more-often-to-save-life-than-to-take-life Guns protect thousands of lives every day.   According to anti-gun researchers in the Clinton Justice Department, there are as many as 1.5 million cases of self-defense with a firearm every year (or more than 4,000 times a day).  ... Gun Owners of America Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:42:01 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/guns-used-more-often-to-save-life-than-to-take-life http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/expert-researcher-explodes-myths Author and professor John Lott has done extensive research on guns and crime in America and he has revealed some startling conclusions. Legal gun ownership actually correlates with lower crime statistics. CCRKBA Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:41:56 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/expert-researcher-explodes-myths http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/michigan-sets-an-example In January 2008, the Detroit Free Press ran a detailed story about how the state’s progressive concealed carry law had actually resulted in lower crime and even a reduced incidence of suicide. Gun control proponents frequently... CCRKBA Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:41:51 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/michigan-sets-an-example http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/armed-citizens-can-fight-back Upwards of 1 million times annually, armed private citizens successfully defend themselves against criminal attack, usually without firing a shot. Criminals often run at the sight of a gun, and at other times they are defeated by their intended... CCRKBA Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:41:46 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/armed-citizens-can-fight-back http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/crime-lower-in-right-to-carry-states Gun control supporters like to say that allowing people to have guns inevitably leads to crime, and on no issue do they make that claim more consistently than on Right-to-Carry. Starting with Florida in 1987, and in each of 28 states that have... Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:10:20 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/crime-lower-in-right-to-carry-states http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/consider-the-source Several well-endowed sources of funds give a lot of money to anti-gun "researchers" to produce "studies" that support the gun control groups' agenda. But independent researchers have analyzed the methods used in these studies and found them flawed. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:09:28 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/consider-the-source http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/more-guns-less-crime Since 1991, violent crime crime has decreased to about a 30-year low, and murder has decreased to about a 40-year low, as the number of guns has risen more than four million a year, to an all-time high. Violent crime peaked in 1991. Since then... Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:08:30 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/more-guns-less-crime