Defensive Gun Use

What is the most common reason for owning a gun?

What is the most common reason for owning a gun?

self defense (esp for women)

Approx what percent of gun owners keep a gun loaded and easily accessible in their home at all times

40%

What is Defensive Gun Use (DGU)?

• vague and subjective

• using or threatening a person w/ a gun

  • in response to crime or victimization

How often are guns used defensively?

depends on the definition

• prevalence rates range from 100,000 - 2.5 mil times a year

• upper bound would mean guns are used defensively

  • in all burglaries in occupied homes

  • to prevent almost all homicides

  • to kill/wound 2x the number of people treated in hospitals for gunshot wounds

• reality: somewhere in the middle, but we still don’t know

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

• federally funded

• nationally representative sample of 100,000 people aged 12+

• survey methods

  • stratified, multistage cluster sample

  • contact via phone and in-person

  • response rate: 95%

• only asks DGU questions for people who identify as victims of crime

National Self Defense Survey (NSDS)

• one-time survey conducted by 2 FSU criminologists

• sample of ~5000 adults 18+

• survey methods

  • SRS

  • oversampled South and West

  • interview via phone only

  • response rate: 61%

Comparing Results

NCVS: Sources of Deflation

• excludes all preemptive and successful DGUs

• social desirability bias

  • embarrassment

  • legality concerns

  • failure to report crime

• indirect questions may lead to incomplete answers

NSDS: Sources of Inflation

• what is a “threat”

  • may not be real

  • can include offensive gun use

  • successful deterrence may not be possible to quantify

• few individuals reporting many incidents

• small sample size

• false positive problem

Rare Events: False Positive Problem

• for rare events, there are always more people who can give a false positive than a false negative

• leads to estimates that are biased upwards (inflated)

Methodological Issues for Both

• one-sided: survey only asks defender

• nonresponse bias:

  • people who refuse to answer are significantly different from those that do

  • sample not representative of population

• DGU narrative answers are difficult to interpret/code

How effective is DGU?

• could deter or escalate

• almost impossible to tell w/out better measures

• mixed findings

Guns in the Home

• odds of victimization for persons living in houses w/ guns

  • homicide: 170% greater

  • suicide: 224% greater

  • teen suicide: 300% greater

• every time gun in the home is used to kill in self-defense, there are

  • 1 unintentional deaths

  • 7 criminal homicides

  • 44 suicides

Duty to Retreat

• English Common Law

• applicable until Reconstruction era

• lethal force __is __permitted when

  • there is no option to retreat

  • retreating is dangerous

Castle Doctrine

“The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence as for his repose.” –Sir Edward Coke, 1604

Self-Defense in Antebellum America

infamous self-defense trials expand self-defense in public places

• 1799: James Reynolds’ armed protests of Alien Acts

• 1806: Thomas Selfridge kills Charles Austin on streets of Boston

• 1852: Acquittal of Matthews Ward

No Duty to Retreat

• the “true man”

  • men w/out fault have no duty to retreat

  • Erwin v State (1876) in Ohio

• contrary to the “tendency of the American Mind”

  • cowardice is un-American

  • Runyan v State (1877) in Indiana

• burden on proof is on state

Brown v. United States (1921)

“Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife” -Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

Stand Your Ground Laws (SYG)

• “shoot first” laws

• first passed by Utah in 1994

• FL (2005) law became standard

• 38 states have SYG

  • 30 on the books

• extreme versions

  • arrest restrictions (6)

  • property crimes (6)

  • fleeing persons (TX)

FL Law (2022)

• necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm

• prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony

• not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she as a right to be

Theoretical Arguments: For

• reduces crime vis deterrence

• does not unjustly burden victim

• consistent w/ human nature

Theoretical Arguments: Against

• encourages escalation of aggressive encounters

• increases crimes involving guns due to arms race

• what is “reasonable” belief?

Empirical Evidence

• no evidence of a deterrent effect

• strong support that SYG increases firearm homicides and total homicides

• mixed evidence for violent crime

Controversies

• “true man” and toxic masculinity

• racial/ethnic disparities

  • “legalized lynching'“

Robert Klimek

Klimek shot Abu Naim who did not attempt to retrieve or use his gun in a confrontation after almost colliding into each other with their cars

David Mota

Mota shot Joshua Switalski after that latter shouts obscenities at Mota. Neither had a criminal record, Switalksi did not have a weapon, did not threaten to kill Mota, and did not attempt to exit his vehicle