#readwise # Guns: Feeling Safe Does Not Equal Being Safe  ## Metadata - Author: [[skepticalinquirer.org]] - Full Title: Guns: Feeling Safe Does Not Equal Being Safe - URL: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/guns-feeling-safe-does-not-equal-being-safe/ ## Highlights In April of 2015 [a study published in *Preventive Medicine*](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743515001188) by David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health and Sara J. Solnick of the University of Vermont examined **data from the National Crime Victimization Surveys for the years 2007 through 2011**. Hemenway and Solnick found that **out of 14,000 episodes in which the victim came into contact with the offender (robberies, burglaries, assaults, etc.), the victim used a gun to threaten or attack the perpetrator in only 127 cases (0.9 percent)**. ... **For those who used a gun in self-defense, the chances of being injured in the incident (10.9 percent) were essentially equal to those who took no action at all (11.0 percent).** There was some evidence that the use of a firearm resulted in less loss of property, but **guns were no more effective than other methods of self-defense in this regard**. ^yj8i8v Dr. Hemenway summarized the findings this way: > The National Crime Victimization Surveys, the gold standard for crime estimates, indicates that **using a gun in self-defense is quite rare** (less than 1% of contact crime) and that **it does not appear to be more effective than many other measures of self-defense or protection in reducing the likelihood of being injured. Not having a gun does not render potential victims of crime either helpless or easy marks.**