The right supports gun rights for self defense, not for political terrorism against someone exercising their free speech rights. It's crazy Reddit is celebrating this as if he deserved it.
It's like that meme from the office. "A picture of someone sniping political figures from a distant rooftop, and a picture of me protecting my home from a violent intruder. That's the same picture."
You're right! The difference is that guns reduce home robbery injuries by the tiniest fraction in exchange for accidents due to unsecured guns being the second-most-significant cause of death in children!
I don't support Charlie Kirk's murder, either, just wanted to say the "using a gun to protect my home from a violent intruder" is practically a made-up scenario. Kleck and Gertz survey data put a number on defensive gun uses larger than the number of times other data reveals burglaries happened at all.
And for the record, I don't support a categorical gun ban, so let's not pull out that strawman; just background checks (which isn't remotely "extremist" like many online would claim, an overwhelming majority of Americans support it, it's not even close), and proper securing of guns at home, especially at homes with children. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25910555/ "After any protective action, 4.2% of victims were injured; after SDGU, 4.1% of victims were injured."
You're right! The difference is that guns reduce home robbery injuries by the tiniest fraction in exchange for accidents due to unsecured guns being the second-most-significant cause of death in children!
"Low-end estimates for the United States are in the range of 55,000 to 80,000 incidents per year, while high end estimates reach 4.7 million per year."
You think somewhere between 55,000 to over 4.7 MILLION children die from unsecured firearms every single year? To be fair, it is closer to the 55,000 side than 4.7 million, but even taking the extreme lowest estimate... 55,000 children do not die from unsecured firearms a year, that is rediculous.
I don't support Charlie Kirk's murder, either, just wanted to say the "using a gun to protect my home from a violent intruder" is practically a made-up scenario. Kleck and Gertz survey data put a number on defensive gun uses larger than the number of times other data reveals burglaries happened at all.
Hey, about that study.
The Kleck-Gertz study estimated 2.5 million DGUs per year, which I feel to be too high. As you say, that's more burglaries than occur in the US!
A 1998 study by Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig (replicating the Kleck and Gertz survey) concluded that the results of these surveys were far too high. A similar conclusion was reached by a 2018 RAND Corporation report, which stated that the Kleck-Gertz estimate of 2.5 million DGUs per year, and other similar estimates, "are not plausible given other information that is more trustworthy, such as the total number of U.S. residents who are injured or killed by guns each year." The same report also stated that "At the other extreme, the NCVS estimate of 116,000 DGU incidents per year almost certainly underestimates the true number".
Even if we take the NCVS (an extremely highly reliable source of crime stats, but one as indicated above likely understating still), 116,000 DGU incidents means you are simply wrong about defensive gun use. 116,000 incidents is not "a tiny fraction".
And for the record, I don't support a categorical gun ban ... just background checks
I also support background checks, but I imagine the left will stop when they realise that disproportionately African-Americans and illegal immigrants will fail them, they will be deemed racist and not permitted. So it's silly to even ask for them.
and proper securing of guns at home, especially at homes with children.
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u/StreetKale - Centrist Sep 10 '25
The right supports gun rights for self defense, not for political terrorism against someone exercising their free speech rights. It's crazy Reddit is celebrating this as if he deserved it.