F
FirstFiveEighth
Guest
I thought that might be your objection. I dug into those statistics, so for anyone else curious, the 2015 death by firearm rate was 36,252 fatalities. Approximately 96% of these fatalities are accounted for by suicide and homicide. The remaining deaths are presumably firearms accidents, accounting for roughly 1,450 deaths.
Honestly I think this disproves your concern for rampant accidental firearms injuries and deaths in a nation with something like 357 Million firearms, though I don’t expect that to convince many of the relatively rare occurance of firearms accidents. That is 0.000004 accidental fatalities per firearm, or 0.0004% of the US population.
Morever, while I can hear the collective eye rolling, crimes stopped by firearms is one of those negative statistics that is hard to prove. While 310 crimes were physically stopped with the lethal use of a firearm, that does not account for crimes stopped by either the brandishing of a firearm or the suspected presence of a firearm by the criminal. I also think it demonstrates the relatively low rate of violent crime in this country, where despite what you might hear in the media the US isn’t the Wild West.
As for professional training, that depends on what you mean by professional training. Every firearm owner should know how to properly handle a firearm and have recieved some firearm safety. It doesn’t necessarily have to come from a police instructor- it can be a kid learning from his dad (as I did originally). People often have little faith in their fellow citizens I’ve noticed. There is nothing inherently more safe about learning firearm safety from a family member as from some training academy. And for the record I am well acquainted with professional firearms use, safety, maintenance, training, among multiple platforms, I will wager more so than 99% of Americans and at least as well as the vast majority of police forces. This is not some theoretical subject for me. I do not take firearm safety lightly.
I have found in my experience that most people who fear firearms, especially firearms in the hands of fellow citizens, simply aren’t very familiar with them. Unfamiliarity breeds discomfort, discomfort breeds fear. Those of us who have handled firearms regularly see firearms as simply a tool. A powerful and dangerous tool that demands responsibility, but a tool none the less. It would be highly improbable that anyone concealed carrying at church is (1) incompetent in safely handing a firearm (2) untrained (3) unaware of the danger shooting in a crowded building presents (4) has not thought hard about details like round type, weapon placement, etc (5) has not spent significant time at the range familiarizing themselves with their weapon and how to use it. Etc. Honestly I think if schools ran marksmanship programs and kids were well taught on the subject people would have less of a boogeyman problem with firearms. JMO.
Please don’t take this as a denigration of your opinion, it was not meant that way, only as a discussion of the subject of perceived firearm danger vs actual danger. Just offering another angle on the issue.
Honestly I think this disproves your concern for rampant accidental firearms injuries and deaths in a nation with something like 357 Million firearms, though I don’t expect that to convince many of the relatively rare occurance of firearms accidents. That is 0.000004 accidental fatalities per firearm, or 0.0004% of the US population.
Morever, while I can hear the collective eye rolling, crimes stopped by firearms is one of those negative statistics that is hard to prove. While 310 crimes were physically stopped with the lethal use of a firearm, that does not account for crimes stopped by either the brandishing of a firearm or the suspected presence of a firearm by the criminal. I also think it demonstrates the relatively low rate of violent crime in this country, where despite what you might hear in the media the US isn’t the Wild West.
As for professional training, that depends on what you mean by professional training. Every firearm owner should know how to properly handle a firearm and have recieved some firearm safety. It doesn’t necessarily have to come from a police instructor- it can be a kid learning from his dad (as I did originally). People often have little faith in their fellow citizens I’ve noticed. There is nothing inherently more safe about learning firearm safety from a family member as from some training academy. And for the record I am well acquainted with professional firearms use, safety, maintenance, training, among multiple platforms, I will wager more so than 99% of Americans and at least as well as the vast majority of police forces. This is not some theoretical subject for me. I do not take firearm safety lightly.
I have found in my experience that most people who fear firearms, especially firearms in the hands of fellow citizens, simply aren’t very familiar with them. Unfamiliarity breeds discomfort, discomfort breeds fear. Those of us who have handled firearms regularly see firearms as simply a tool. A powerful and dangerous tool that demands responsibility, but a tool none the less. It would be highly improbable that anyone concealed carrying at church is (1) incompetent in safely handing a firearm (2) untrained (3) unaware of the danger shooting in a crowded building presents (4) has not thought hard about details like round type, weapon placement, etc (5) has not spent significant time at the range familiarizing themselves with their weapon and how to use it. Etc. Honestly I think if schools ran marksmanship programs and kids were well taught on the subject people would have less of a boogeyman problem with firearms. JMO.
Please don’t take this as a denigration of your opinion, it was not meant that way, only as a discussion of the subject of perceived firearm danger vs actual danger. Just offering another angle on the issue.
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