General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm 55 years old and have never owned a gun in my life. [View all]eridani
(51,907 posts)Because there is no way to accurately define what counts as successful self-defense. I'm sure there are videos documenting actual attacks, but these are rare. More likely is a scenario encountered by a friend of mine.
She was in her 60s, and liked to hike alone. She carried a handgun for possible self-defense, though I'm not sure whether it would have stopped a bear. One morning she was cooking breakfast and noticed tow men approaching her tent from a nearby trail. She drew her gun and assumed the stance, and the men went back the way they came. There are people who would include this in successful self-defense statistics, but this is bullshit.
Even though I probably would have done the same in her situation, the fact is that the intentions of the men were unknown. They may have just wanted directions. Or not. There is just no way of telling for sure.
A sad thing--she committed suicide by gun. She had had a hellish time caring for her mother with Alzheimers, and thought she recognized signs in herself. There was no official diagnosis, but she chose not to take chances.