Are you crazy

[Tracker]

Recently, a liberal friend of mine said that people who want a
gun for protection are just plain crazy. My friend’s argument
was that you’re a lot more likely to die in a car accident or
a fire. The likelihood that you’ll be killed by a burglar who
breaks into your home or a hoodlum who jumps you in a dark
parking lot, my friend said, are about the same as getting
struck by lightning. So thinking you need a gun means you’re
afraid of an unlikely event and are therefore irrational.

I disagreed but couldn’t quote any statistics to counter the
argument. And I had to admit, the idea of actually being
killed by a bad guy did seem pretty remote. But I got to
wondering what the odds really are, so I did a little
research. And what I found was startling.

The National Safety Council is a nonprofit public service
organization chartered by the U.S. Congress.
they publish a chart with the “odds” of dying
by various means. You’re probably familiar with the concept of
odds. If you flip a coin, your odds of getting heads are 1 out
of 2. If you randomly choose a card from a full deck, your
odds of getting the ace of spades are 1 out of 52. The lower
the number, the more likely it is to happen. The higher the
number, the less likely it is to happen.

One column in the NSC chart gives the odds of dying in a
particular way over the course of your lifetime. So, for
example, the lifetime odds of being struck and killed by
lightening are 1 out of 56,439. That’s a high number, so it’s
not too likely.

But according to the chart, the lifetime odds of dying by
assault of any kind are 1 out of 211. That means you have a 1
in 211 chance of being killed in an assault with a knife, a
gun, a beating, or by any other violent means.

And how does that compare to car accidents and fires? The
lifetime odds of dying in a car accident are 1 out of 228.
That’s right. The odds of being killed in an assault are
higher than the odds of being killed in your car. And the odds
of dying by assault are also greater than the odds of dying in
a fire (1 out of 1,471).

Some additional figures: the odds of dying in a plain crash
are 1 out of 5,704, in a water transport accident 1 out of
9,019, and by venomous snake or lizard 1 out of 1,241,661.

So here’s the point. Your odds of dying in a car crash are 1
out of 228 in your lifetime, but no one would say it’s crazy
to wear a seat belt. Your odds of dying in a fire are 1 out of
1,471, but no one would think it’s irrational to install a
smoke detector. And who would fault you for being a little
leery of traveling by plane or wearing a floatation device on
a boat or carrying antidote for snake venom if you’re hiking
in the wilderness?

And it’s not just your odds of being killed in an assault that
you should consider, because the odds of being beaten or raped
or otherwise injured are far higher since most assaults do not
end in death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the U.S. Department of Justice, your lifetime
odds of being a victim of violent crime are 1 out of 2. Yes,
it’s a flip of the coin as to whether you’ll be the victim of
violent crime at some point in your life.

The way I see it, having a gun handy is just as rational as
buckling up or checking your smoke detector batteries.
Pragmatic people know that bad things can and do happen and
they take pro-active steps to avoid or survive those
situations. Having or even carrying a gun is just one of
hundreds of little things that responsible adults do to plan
for unexpected events, especially when those events have dire
consequences for those who are unprepared.

So it makes you wonder who’s really crazy—those who have a gun
or those who don’t?

[Deputy Dawg]

I must be INSANE then for I have allways carried a gun and allways will no matter what.

[KyBlaster]

Those statistics are very compelling. I will definetly use them in the future. By the way, I always carry a gun and I always buckle up.

[SouthernMoss]

Excellent post, Tracker! I was so interested in the chart you mentioned that I went searching for it. For anyone else who may be interested, you can find the chart at: http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm

[KyBlaster]

Thanks for the link SoMo. I'm printing it.

[polishshooter]

WOW.

Talk about AMMO.


THANKS!!!

[Pistolenschutze]

Great one, Tracker. Thanks for that info. I suspect I can use it in one or more of the classes I teach.

[lead]

I appreciate good, intelligent information. It may not make a difference to someone who has already made up his mind, but it's nice to argue with facts and not just emotion.
Thanks for giving us this info.

[pickenup]

Thanks Tracker (and SoMo, bookmarked it )
Love dealing with facts.

Here is another one. (Well almost)
It has been “estimated” that 2-3 1/2 MILLION times a year (since not ALL of these cases get reported) some kind of crime is stopped by merely “showing” that you have a gun to protect yourself. These are times when NO shots are fired. I imagine the statistics provided above, would be VERY different, if only the criminals were carrying guns.

[Tracker]

You're right LEAD. I've noticed in the many discussions that I have had with Anti-gun people, that their info is based on emotion and the opionions of others which they have read or heard. When faced with the facts-- the platform they stand on starts to shake. They stomp their feet,walk away or just shut up---What a great thing--an Anti--Gun who has shut up.

[user_error]

I carry a gun openly under most circumstances, as a deterrant. I don't think anyone in the world wants to harm specifically me, and only a "crazy" criminal would approach and attempt to rob/attack a man openly carrying a pistol.

[MRMIKE08075]

and no one has lightning protection devices on there houses...

we wear our seat belts, get innoculated, practice safe sex, protect our eyes when working with tools, wear steel toed boots, take birth control medication, have smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, mammograms, prostate exams, have airbags, dont allow nail clippers on planes, sneezegaurds, home fire extinguishers, etc...

most of wich are never needed, go unused, and get little credit...

if there was a lightning protector for hikers, i would buy one...

criminals get through locked doors and windows, so lets get rid of all the locks on our doors and windows...

ask him what type of car he drives...

the legal maximum speed limit is 75 MPH, yet 99% of us drive a vehicle that will greatly exceed the legal and safe limit...

PORSCHE, CORVETTE, etc... make vehicles that go over 200 MPH...

following his logic we should all drive cars incapable of exeeding the legal speed limit...

nothing in the constitution or bill of rights about lightning protection...

PC / LIBERAL / MOVE-ON-ORG / DEM / LIBERAL / AL GORE / JOHN KERRY BULLSHIT!!!

our educational system has produced mindless SHEEPLE indocternated by tenured losers...

best regards, mike.

[polishshooter]

So tell us how you REALLY feel, Mike?