Lots of guns, but most people have NO guns

[CreekDog]

There are a lot of guns out there, but most people don't own guns, and women and nonwhites rarely own guns.

30% of those polled said they owned a gun.
just 18% of nonwhites polled said they owned a gun.
just 13% of women polled said they owned a gun.

The number of guns is concentrated among a minority of gun owners, who own multiple weapons.

[AldoLeopold]

1. That's good news

It means it will be easier to get those weapons.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. As one who taught GLBTs and women I have been working diligently to make the figures more balanced

[Deep13]

4. good for you (and them) nt

[baldguy]

5. The problem is too many guns. More guns isn't a solution - it's a recipe for disaster.

You are personally making the situation worse.

[Deep13]

6. No he's teach those who are at the wrong end of that situation not to be victims.

His students are not the ones who will shoot up schools.

[baldguy]

12. He's fostering the RW lie that guns offer protection.

[Deep13]

13. They do sometimes.

That's the problem. Physics cannot tell the difference between an assailant and a real victim.

[baldguy]

15. Most of the time they don't.

The very real dangers far outweigh the supposed benefits.

[Deep13]

16. you are right ...

...but if someone knows he or she is in a dangerous situation and cannot count on authorities--let's face it, until you are an E-room patient or a corpse, they don't care--then that person has no duty to be a victim and may take whatever precautions are necessary.

Statistically, you are right. People have guns because they view violence as a solution, and when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail, which perpetuates that POV--resulting in murders and homicides due to accident or mistake. It also causes an aggressive domestic and foreign national policies. While people may kill people, guns make that really easy to do.

Still, we are talking about individuals here, not statistical trends which are of no help to someone being "queer-bashed" because he or she was not allowed to defend himself in a meaningful way.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. There is no legitimate way to determine that one way or the other

Defensive Gun Use is rarely reported unless there is a discharge. Pundits from both sides make paltry or inflated claims about it, depending on their agenda. The honest answer is that it cannot be measured. Without that metric no honest assessment can be made if handguns for self defense are a net plus or minus. Both sides argue from viewpoint with insufficient data.

If one sets aside the aggregate and looks to the individual stories, they too are all over the map. However, it is pretty clear that if someone does the right things, risk is greatly reduced. That includes training/practice and proper security/storage. If you are doing thug style, the risk is clearly enhanced.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. There is a good of the many vs the good of the individual argument that can be made

and I recognize that. However, in our society, the individual is required and expected to defend and protect themselves. LEOs are never there in real time and in the case of GLBTs can be part of the problem. The people I have taught were in many cases fearful due to direct experience. It was not an academic issue or a potential problem. They saw it in their own lives. I side with the individual's right to protect themselves, YMMV

The reality is that there has been a serious upturn in violence in our society. The same kinds of firearms are available today as there were available after WWI but the level of violence is much higher. Address the violence and most self defense weapons will go away and it will be a good thing when they do.

[Bohunk68]

14. Last year, an NRA friend got my rifle

repaired for me. Yes, I know he is NRA and quite conservative, but we have worked together on local issues for the betterment of our rural community. As a GLBT person who lives in a rural red-neck area of Upstate NY, I feel surrounded by crazies and being older and living in a secluded country area, feel insecure. While I am well aware that it would take way too long to get the rifle out of the place where it is kept, I am also aware that my first distant early warning system, my Border Collie, had to be put down a year and a half ago. I had also had a visit from two persons who had been in prison and were allegedly needing info on genealogy and the questions that they asked in reference to my living isolated is what caused me to get the rifle repaired. My neighbor down the street is a state cop and he and his wife are verry right wing. I spoke to him about that visit and he agreed that I had been "cased". With all the other crap from the teabaggers, etc. I do not feel comfortable. I would feel even less comfortable living in an urban area. PP, keep up the training, I see a need even if others do not.

[CreekDog]

7. so that female murder victims are a higher proportion of the total?

you suggest you are making them safer --as I say frequently here, guns just make you "feel" safer --which is not the same as being safer.

[Deep13]

3. I have quite a few.

It's a hobby. I shoot paper targets. I find it fun. Over half are .22 rimfire caliber because it is cheap and paper targets do not put up much of a fight. I don't hunt because it would upset my wife and she is a total sweetie. I have one for self defense that I do not expect to ever need, especially since I am not prosecuting anymore. I'm not "ready for 'em." I don't think there will ever be a violent revolution or a collapse of civilization no matter how many people seem to be looking forward to it. I really don't think the Constitution protects my hobby more than other hobbies. If restricting parts of my hobby makes it harder to murder children, well that's fine.

[MightyMopar]

8. So guns are a white guy thing?

Hopefully changing demographics will make stronger gun regulation easier to achieve and especially to enforce.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. I'm a black guy

[Odin2005]

21. The first gun control legislation started because whites were scared of blacks with guns.

[RebelOne]

10. I do not own a gun, but have been thinking about buying one.

I am a single female who lives alone. For 10 years, I owned a Rottweiler that discouraged anyone from even thinking about breaking into my home. But she had cancer and I had to send her to doggie heaven when she was almost 13 years old. Now I feel really insecure. I have a Chihuahua that makes a lot of noise whenever a stranger enters the house, but I doubt she would be any deterrent for anyone breaking in.

[mainer]

11. Since men commit most of the gun crimes, maybe only women should have guns.

Then self-defense would be available to those who ACTUALLY NEED IT.

[Zoeisright]

19. Should be easier to round 'em up then.

[Heywood J]

20. One thing I got from that is that

there appears to be a percentage of households where the man has a gun and the woman doesn't appear to know about it. I don't think it's the full 30% difference because of the way households are made up, but I can't help but see something in the numbers.