Watch what happens when regular people try to use handguns in self-defense
In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, the National Rifle Association proposed putting more guns in schools. After a racist shot up a Charleston prayer group, an NRA board member argued for more guns in church. And now predictably, politicians and gun rights advocates are calling for guns in movie theaters after a loner killed two people at a theater in Louisiana.
The notion that more guns are always the solution to gun crime is taken seriously in this country. But the research shows that more guns lead to more gun homicides -- not less. And that guns are rarely used in self-defense.
Now a new study from researchers at Mount St. Mary's University sheds some light on why people don't use guns in self-defense very often. As it turns out, knowing when and how to apply lethal force in a potentially life-or-death situation is really difficult.
The study was commissioned by the National Gun Victims Action Council, an advocacy group devoted to enacting "sensible gun laws" that "find common ground between legal gun owners and non-gun owners that minimizes gun violence in our culture." The study found that proper training and education are key to successfully using a firearm in self-defense: "carrying a gun in public does not provide self-defense unless the carrier is properly trained and maintains their skill level," the authors wrote in a statement.
video at link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/28/watch-what-happens-when-regular-people-try-to-use-handguns-in-self-defense/?postshare=671438212917712
phantom power
(25,966 posts)Some simulations of what really happens in the hypothetical NRA utopia - where everybody is walking around packing heat, and some 'self defense' situation arises, and everybody pulls out their gun...
dixiegrrrrl
(60,011 posts)"maintains" being as important as "trained"
but most folks who carry any kind of gun around "for protection" do not do any regular practice shooting.
Practice shooting does cost money, which may be a factor.
phantom power
(25,966 posts)And that's just basic target practice.
It doesn't even touch the other important kinds of training for how to actually handle yourself in these situations, that the police train for regularly. Taking cover, talking people down, identifying assailants versus bystanders....
Costs lots of money, and time. Very, very few non-professionals are ever going to do this. But it's easy, right! I see actors do it on TV all the time.
Paladin
(28,766 posts)central scrutinizer
(12,441 posts)I've seen Roy Rogers do it lots of time. How hard can it be?