Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 11:49:36 -0500 (EST)
From: [E--rS--r] at [aol.com]
To: Multiple recipients of list <[n--b--n] at [Mainstream.net]>
Subject: "the 15th" Defensive gun use study

Several people who attended the March 11 debate at Stanford University
pitting myself and Don Kates against  Eric Gorovitz and Mark Pertschuk, have
asked about my reference to "the 15th study of the protective uses of guns."
 That study notes, "...the NSPOF [National Survey of the Private Ownership of
Fireams, a study commissioned by the decidedly anti-self-defense Police
foundation]  data suggest that from 4 to 23 million DGU's [Defensive Gun
Uses] occured in 1994...."  This cite is particularly useful because the
author, Prof. Phil Cook of Duke U., has been Kleck's arch-critic in the
academic literature and HCI's most frequently cited researcher in opposing
Kleck.  Cook has been deriding Kleck & Gertz 2.5 million since before it was
published.  In a paper presented on 11/20/96 to the American Society of
Criminology entitled "You Got Me: How Many Defensive Gun Uses Per Year?"
(draft date 10/24/96) Cook describes how he reproduced Kleck & Gertz survey
and he found a _low_end_ estimate of 4 million protective uses annually.  It
is somewhat amusing that after finally admitting the validity of Kleck's
work, Cook's last paragraph in the paper reads:

"To sum up, surveys are a decidedly flawed method for learning about the
frequency with which innocent victims of crime use a gun to defend
themselves.  On the other hand, even if we could develop a reliable estimate
of this frequency, it would only be of marginal relevance to the ongoing
debate over the appropriate regulation of firearms commerce, possession, and
use."

When Cook disputed Kleck's data, he felt that the number of defensive uses
was relevant to the debate.  Now, after validating Kleck & Gertz' work,
 Cook, to the sound of our raucous laughter, dives into an epistemological
abyss ("knowledge is unknowable") for cover.

Edgar A. Suter MD
National Chair, Doctors for Integrity in Policy Research, Inc