{"id":58320,"date":"2016-06-01T17:29:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T21:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/blog\/?p=58320"},"modified":"2016-06-01T17:29:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T15:30:10","slug":"korwin-guns-are-dangerous-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/korwin-guns-are-dangerous-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"KORWIN: The Guns-Are-Dangerous Myth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alan

Alan Korwin, visit his website GunLaws.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want a gun in my<\/em> house,\u201d said the nervous frail suburban housewife, speaking to her daughter\u2019s grade school teacher, who was nodding vigorous agreement. \u201cIt\u2019s dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

This widely believed myth has kept more people gunless and defenseless, removed from the protection and safety that 60 million armed households enjoy, than any other myth cataloged so far in this series.<\/p>\n

Like so many of these myths, it is enormously appealing because it has that subtle and seductive error of logic that on first glance grabs hold (the fallacy of selective evidence). Fortunately, on a cool, clear-minded second look, the shimmering deception unravels and inner truth reveals itself.<\/p>\n

Of course having a gun in your home is dangerous. It\u2019s supposed<\/em> to be dangerous. That\u2019s why so many American homes safely<\/em> keep their homes armed. Keeping firearms in the grand American tradition wouldn\u2019t be any good, wouldn\u2019t serve it\u2019s intended purpose, if firearms weren\u2019t deadly dangerous. That\u2019s the whole point. That\u2019s why you keep a dangerous stove<\/em>. Because it has value.<\/p>\n

Have we so lost sight of our roots and values that this isn\u2019t immediately evident to any person who thinks themselves a citizen? Guns are dangerous so they can provide immediate protection<\/em> from danger and evil.<\/p>\n

Guns are dangerous? Knives are dangerous. Going about terrified that guns are dangerous is like going about terrified that knives are sharp. Of course they\u2019re sharp, the more dangerously sharp the better. Same for guns. Guns are safe.<\/em> Guns are for safety. Knives are for kitchens.<\/p>\n

Multiple choice test:<\/h2>\n

If knives and knife owners were government registered because they\u2019re so sharp and deadly dangerous, accidents would drop, stabbings would drop, crime would drop.<\/p>\n

Yes. No. Don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

A government knife registry has a crime fighting component.<\/p>\n

Yes. No. Don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Background checks and waiting\/cooling-off periods for knives would reduce stabbings and knife-wielding muggings.<\/p>\n

Yes. No. Don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Repeat for guns.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re an adult, or at least you\u2019re supposed to be, and act like one, as a functioning member of civil society. That level of competency was expected when the nation was founded, as a needed part of self governance<\/em>. You\u2019re expected to be sufficiently adult to handle all sorts of powerful and dangerous things, most of them much more often than guns, or voting.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t, then maybe you shouldn\u2019t be left out on your own. Think of all the harm you can do with kitchen knives. The enemies of Israel are showing that to us. Poison, cars, power tools, flammable liquids, matches in a forest. Maybe you\u2019ve read lists of how exposed this nation is to attack by people without<\/em> guns.<\/p>\n

Hey, before guns existed personal physical harm was done with blades of some sort. The world was a lot more bloody, ugly and dangerous in times of Caesar, Khan and Xena the Warrior Princess. Guns have actually tamed things down, for the average domestic street.<\/p>\n

It Can Be Measured<\/h2>\n

Statistical arguments are frustrating. Both sides have numbers, they\u2019re all developed from impeccable sources with Ph.D.s behind them\u2014and they don\u2019t match. In fact, if I tell you a stat is from Brady or the NRA, you already know what the numbers will show, and your beliefs about them are already in place.<\/p>\n

That said, no one disagrees that guns are used defensively without being fired<\/em> far more often than with shots fired. A gun is mentioned, or presented, and a confrontation ends. There is general consensus that a gun is fired in only about 2% percent of self-defense incidents. Yet some people believe and fear guns are totally deadly. In self defense, 98% of the time guns are not deadly at all. Read that sentence again. Defensive gun uses (DGUs) occur between 700,000 and 2.5 million times annually (depending on whose figures you use).<\/p>\n

The final nail in the coffin on the dangerous-gun myth is that most people shot don\u2019t die. I know, that\u2019s a shocker, and terrible, and I\u2019m not saying woundings are good by any stretch. Puhleeeze. It\u2019s just that some people believe and fear America\u2019s 300 million guns are completely and constantly deadly. Most people who suffer gunshots survive.<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll start noticing it in \u201cnews\u201d reports by listening closely to body counts (reported with abandon, which is abominable). Reporters continue to glorify the murderers with gratuitous and repetitious images and name recognition. That <\/em>needs to end.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

More articles in this series:<\/strong><\/p>\n