It’s safe to say that 2026 has thus far been something of a “banner year” for the Second Amendment. The right to keep and bear arms went 2-0 this summer at the Supreme Court, which also now appears likely to strike down bans on so-called assault weapons. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has increasingly taken up the fight on behalf of law-abiding citizens against some of the worst state violators of their Second Amendment rights. And now, we can thank Georgetown professor Bill English for dealing a devastating blow to the gun control narrative — with hard data.
English’s 2026 National Firearms Survey (now available online) is a massive, comprehensive analysis of gun ownership and gun use trends in the United States. And the numbers tell a remarkable tale about the importance of the right to keep and bear arms.
Among other key findings, the survey estimates that, on average, American civilians defend themselves or others with firearms a staggering 2.2 million times every year. Just over 37% of American gun owners are estimated to have used a firearm to protect themselves, their families, or their property at least once, and a majority of those have done so on multiple occasions.
Most of these defensive gun uses will never even make it into a police report, much less national headlines. Gun owners report having to fire their gun in fewer than one-in-four defensive scenarios. The survey also found that 70% of the time, the defensive gun use was so successful that “no crime remained to be reported to police.”
Nonetheless, here are some of the defensive gun use stories that did find their way into a news outlet last month — and that you still likely missed, anyway:
- Aug. 1, Tuscumbia, Ala. — A man who’d been released from police custody only days earlier with a 36-month suspended sentence for drug possession broke into a couple’s home, where he was promptly confronted by the armed homeowner, who shot and wounded him.
- Aug. 3, South Bend, Ind. — Two men banged on the door of a home and, ignoring the residents’ warning that one of them was armed, forced their way inside. They were met by an armed resident who exchanged gunfire with them as the other victims, including women and minors, huddled upstairs. The intruders fled after one of them sustained gunshot wounds that ultimately proved fatal. The resident shot at the suspects again from an upstairs window after one of them pointed a gun at him while dragging his wounded accomplice to their escape van. Police later arrested the surviving intruder and charged him with a litany of serious offenses.
- Aug. 6, Miami Gardens, Fla. — A food delivery driver was dropping off an order of banana pudding when two men entered the backseat of his vehicle, held a gun to his head, and tried to rob him. While the men were distracted by their efforts to access the driver’s CashApp, the driver drew his own gun and opened fire, fatally shooting one robber and sending the other fleeing. The surviving suspect is now charged with felony murder for his accomplice’s death and faces life in prison.
- Aug. 7, Riverton, Utah — Two bystanders intervened to de-escalate an argument between a belligerent customer and a convenience store clerk who refused to sell him alcohol. The bystanders convinced the customer to leave, but he just drove around the parking lot before taking a shotgun from his car and attempting to re-enter the store. The two bystanders, both of whom were also armed, drew their concealed weapons and fatally shot the man before he could harm anyone inside.
- Aug. 9, Warren, Mich. — Local officials determined that two concealed carry permit holders who fatally shot assailants in two unrelated incidents of domestic violence both acted in lawful self-defense and declined to criminally charge either of them. The first permit holder fatally shot his brother after he assaulted their father and threatened to kill other family members. Later that same day, the second permit holder fatally shot his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend after the man came to their home uninvited, confronted them in an aggressive manner, and assaulted the girlfriend.
- Aug. 12, Florence, S.C. — A vape shop employee quickly ended an attempted robbery, fatally shooting a masked man who entered the store and demanded money at gunpoint.
- Aug. 16, Las Cruces, N.M. — Immediately after a family of four returned home from a soccer tournament, one of the kids heard suspicious footsteps and throat-clearing noises from upstairs and alerted his parents. The dad conducted an armed search of his home, discovered an intruder who’d locked himself in a bathroom, and held him at gunpoint until police arrived. Police determined that the suspect had been waiting in the house for almost four hours. He’s also accused of committing both a shooting and another home invasion earlier that same day.
- Aug. 25, Chesapeake, Va. — Police say that a delivery driver fatally shot a neighborhood resident in self-defense after the resident instigated an argument and assaulted him with an “edged weapon.” The resident allegedly blocked the driver’s car to prevent him from leaving, physically assaulted him, and threatened him with “serious bodily harm.” He then briefly left the scene but came back out armed with the weapon to confront the driver again, at which point the driver shot him.
- Aug. 27, Belington, W. Va. — A local prosecutor was out at dinner when he contacted police to report a suspected drunk driver. After the responding officer left to find the driver, a homeless man with a violent criminal history aggressively approached the prosecutor and threatened to kill him. The prosecutor tried to retreat to his car, but his girlfriend had locked the doors, enabling the man to strike him in the face hard enough to cause multiple fractures. The prosecutor retrieved a gun from inside the car to defend himself against further assaults and held his assailant at gunpoint until the officer returned. The man faces charges for malicious assault.
- Aug. 31, Cedar Hill, Tex. — A would-be bank robber entered a local Chase Bank shortly after it opened, brandished a knife, and demanded money from employees. An armed customer intervened, drawing his gun and fatally shooting the knife-wielding robber. Officials say that all employees and bystanders escaped the incident without serious injury.
These instances of armed self-defense are just the tip of a much greater iceberg of defensive gun uses in the United States last month. But these stories of ordinary Americans do something that raw data, for all its importance, simply can’t—they paint names and faces onto impersonal numbers.
The data on defensive gun use is in, and the data is very good. But often, the stories behind the data are just as powerful.
Related: Look at the Defensive Gun Uses that Hawaii Wants to Criminalize