On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:19:06 -0800 (PST), Siskuwihane
<Siskuwihane1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>
>http://www.independent.com/news/2007/may/24/defensive-logic/
>
>Defensive Logic
>By Henry Delgado
>
>Thursday, May 24, 2007
>
>While I have no doubt that Mike Vandeman, PhD, is a well-educated and
>reasonable man, I submit that the information he has gleaned from his
>associates regarding firearms is woefully inadequate [ "Close
>Reading," May 10]. Dr. Vandeman starts out by labeling it
>“preposterous” to say that guns are used defensively 2.5 million times
>a year. I respectfully refer Dr. Vandeman to a 1993 national survey
>re****t by Gary Kleck, Florida State University criminology professor.
>Using a survey sample of 4,977 respondents (the usual survey sample is
>in the 600 to 1,600 range), Professor Kleck determined that guns are
>used an average of 2.5 million times a year to prevent or defend
>against a crime. In 1994, Bill Clinton’s Department of Justice
>sponsored a survey titled "Guns in America: National Survey on Private
>Owner****p and Use of Firearms." They used a smaller sample size than
>Kleck, and estimated 1.5 million defensive uses of firearms annually.
>
>It is unfortunate Dr. Vandeman doesn’t know any gun owners. Contrary
>to his assertion that a “tiny minority of the population own guns,”
>here are the facts for his perusal: There are approximately
>300,000,000 people in the U.S. There are approximately 65,000,000 gun
>owners in the U.S. That’s about 22 percent of the population.
That only proves that 22% of the population are idiots.
There
>are 200 million firearms (65 million-70 million handguns). Firearms
>are used for protection by 11 percent of firearms owners (13 percent
>of handgun owners). Criminal yearly misuse of firearms is less than
>0.2 percent (and less than 0.4 percent for handguns).
>
>I’m confident that Dr. Vandeman will be enlightened by these figures.
>I have personally been a participant in defusing a possible crime
>because we were armed—but that’s another story.—Henry Delgado
--
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are
fond of!
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
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