From: [Jacob Vetleson] at [f501.n914.z8.rbbs-net.ORG] (Jacob Vetleson)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Pim's Doubt of Kleck
Date: 26 Jan 94 10:59:00 PST
-=> Quoting Pim Van Meurs to All <=-
>Gary Kleck, a noted researcher in the field, places
>estimates of defensive use of guns in the home at between 800,000...
PVM> Noted researcher indeed. His guestimates are based on many unproven
PVM> assumptions. But you knew this, didn't you ?
Perhaps the tireless Pim will like this better:
140,000 LA COUNTY GUN OWNERS HAVE USED FIREARM DEFENSIVELY
by J. Neil Schulman
In the first data on defensive use of firearms by
private citizens since the study by criminologist Gary
Kleck of Florida State University, a Los Angeles Times poll
published Sunday, May 17, 1992, indicates that 9% of
Southern California gun owners have used a firearm in
personal self-defense, resulting in an approximation of
between 135,000 to 145,000 gun owners who have personally
defended themselves with a gun in Los Angeles County alone.
The poll question excluded defensive use of a weapon in the
military or while on the job.
Out of those who say they have used a gun in self-
defense, only 2% say they actually fired the gun,
signifying that the deterrence value of the firearm without
being fired was approximately 98%.
The poll, conducted by telephone between April 9-15,
1992, interviewed 2,619 Southern Californians 18 or older
-- 878 gun owners and 1,741 non-gun-owners, and the Times
pollsters, using demographic weighting, estimate the number
of gun owners in Southern California as approximately 24%
of the population. Because of the size of the sample, the
Times' pollsters give a 4% margin of error in their
results.
The 1990 U.S. Census gives the 18-and-older population
of Los Angeles County as 6,537,054.
The Times' poll data is particularly useful, inasmuch
as it can be directly correlated with other statistical
information on crime drawn from the polling.
While 9% of Southern California gun owners report use
of their weapon in defense against crime, 13% of Southern
Californians report that a member of their household has
been a victim of a violent crime or act of violence in the
last two years, with 13% also reporting having personally
witnessed a crime or act of violence.
This data, when correlated, indicates that among the
subset of the population that owns a firearm, the firearm
stands a significant chance of preventing a crime or act of
violence when it occurs. Just how high the deterrence
effect is can not be correlated exactly because the Times'
poll did not specify that the defense in question needed to
be within the last two years, as the crime or act of
violence in question was.
Further, the highest rates of victimization are among
African-Americans, at 20%, and Latinos, at 17%, while 11%
of Anglos and 9% of Asian Americans are victimized. With
the exception of the Asian-American community, this
victimization rate approximates an inverse proportion to
the rate of firearms ownership in each community, with 43%
of Anglos having at least one gun in their home or garage,
33% of African-Americans, and 25% of Latinos. The anomaly
is the Asian-American community which has a 19% rate of
firearms ownership and a relatively low rate of crime and
violence.
The Times' poll data tends to reinforce the findings
of the study by Gary Kleck, Ph.D., a criminologist from the
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State
University, Tallahassee, Florida, which he summarized at
the August 29 through September 1, 1991, Annual Meeting of
the American Political Science Association, as follows:
"Each year," Kleck stated, "about 1500 - 2800
criminals are lawfully killed by gun-wielding American
civilians in justifiable or excusable homicides, far more
than are killed by police officers. There are perhaps
600,000 - 1 million defensive uses of guns each year ...
People who use guns for self-protection in robberies and
assaults are less likely to have the crime completed
against them (in a robbery, this means losing their
property), and, contrary to widespread belief, are less
likely to be injured, compared to either victims who use
other forms of resistance or to victims who do nothing to
resist. (Criminals take the gun away from the victim in
less than 1% of these incidents.) The evidence does not
support the idea that nonresistance is safer than resisting
with a gun."
The Los Angeles Times poll compiled other interesting
data relating to firearms ownership:
-- While 75% of all homicides in Los Angeles County are
gun-related, 33% of homicides in Los Angeles County are
gang-related -- either the shooter or the victim is gang-
member.
-- The chances of being shot in Los Angeles county:
1/1000 (.1%) -- (same odds as getting lung cancer).
-- Over the last five years, California Department of
Justice records show 466,543 handguns sold in Los Angeles
County.
-- The vast majority of firearms in Los Angeles are owned
by ordinary citizens rather than criminals or gang-members.
-- 29% of Southern California homes have guns compared to
43% nationally, however most Southern Californians have
guns for self-protection rather than sporting use, compared
to opposite elsewhere.
-- Most Southern California gun owners possess more than
one gun. 70% own at least one handgun. 70% own a shotgun
or rifle.
-- Most firearms owners in Southern California have
received formal firearms training, and firearms classes are
booming, especially for women.
-- Even though it is a misdemeanor, 25% of gun owners
admit to sometimes carrying a loaded gun either in their
car or on their person. 20% of gun owners admit to
carrying a loaded gun in their car, and 11% admit to
carrying a concealed loaded gun on their person.
-- 12-1/2% of Southern California residents are planning
to buy a gun in 1992 -- 75% for self protection. In a
follow-up survey conducted in Los Angeles after the riots,
5% of LA City residents said they will buy a gun as a
result of the riots.
-- J. Neil Schulman
Founder and Chair
The Committee to Enforce the Second Amendment
________________________________________________________
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| Jacob Vetleson <[jacob vetleson] at [f20.n125.z1.fidonet.org]> |
| +++ Computer Professionals for the Second Amendment +++ |
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