Oh Look, A New Study 'Debunking the Myth of Defensive Gun Use'

The gun-grabbing left is willing to spend a vast amount of treasure on studies that undermine the rationale for owning a gun.  The latest study to this effect was published in the Journal of Preventive Medicine  and claims that owning a gun does not make you safer.

The study, led by David Hemenway, Ph.D., of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, examines data from the National Crime Victimization Survey — an annual survey of 90,000 households — and shows not only that so-called “defensive gun use” (DGU) rarely protects a person from harm, but also that such incidents are much more rare than gun advocates claim.

There are two important things that must be remembered when we have a new “gun study” on our hands. First, we have the assumption that there exists some threshold that can be met via scientific study that will “prove” we don’t need guns.  That’s not how the Second Amendment works, however. There is no standard that has to be met before the right kicks in — “shall not be infringed” and all that. Second, and more dangerous, is the propaganda element — convincing the public that we don’t need guns so that they support legislation that chips away at Second Amendment freedoms. This may be a purely academic endeavor in the case of the former, but in the case of the latter it’s quite dangerous.

The study shows that the belief that owning a gun makes people safer is not supported by the evidence.

Contrary to what many gun advocates argue, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data reveals that having a gun provides no statistically significant benefit to a would-be victim during a criminal confrontation.

Here’s the main takeaway:

The study found that in incidents where a victim used a gun in self-defense, the likelihood of suffering an injury was 10.9 percent. Had the victim taken no action at all, the risk of injury was virtually identical: 11 percent. Having a gun also didn’t reduce the likelihood of losing property: 38.5 percent of those who used a gun in self-defense had property taken from them, compared to 34.9 percent of victims who used another type of weapon, such as a knife or baseball bat.

This study is being touted by a website called The Trace, which is funded by Everytown for Gun Safety — so right now we know this is a propaganda maneuver.

We still have the right to keep and bear arms, whether or not a study shows that owning a gun makes us safer. So remember that when you are reading some new study.

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