Guns in the Home

An interesting critique of a study regarding the dangers of having guns in the home.

People should judge for themselves if they need a gun. If I ran a convenience market, I would own one, but since I don't, I won't. Even though studies criticized here may be flawed, the conclusion may not necessarily be wrong. A gun in the house increases the odds (as yet undetermined) of gunplay by children, ill-advised stands against drive-by shooters, and impulsive suicides, and if the danger posed by criminals isn't that large, best not to have them at all.

My sister Michelle has guns in the home, but I worry that her son Aaron might fall victim to a gun-related accident. My sister is fully trained and responsible with her guns, keeping them locked up and all, but tragedy is always a possibility. It's hard to balance low-occurrence risks - intruder vs. accident - which is more likely? Seems to depend mostly on an person's circumstances. I think most TV-addled people tend to exaggerate the danger of an intruder, and end up putting themselves in unnecessary danger. Besides, typical, free-lance Bad Guys usually have the advantage of surprise - better to flee, if one can, or fork over the dough, than fumble with the locks and get shot in the process.

Nothing helps assess a risk better than asking questions. How many people actually know:

1.) someone who confronted an intruder in their home?
2.) someone who confronted the intruder with a gun?
3.) what happened then?
4.) someone who had to make a citizen's arrest, or otherwise confront someone in public, with a gun, or other armament?
5.) someone who got shot in their home, as a result of an accident, or suicide attempt, of some kind?
6.) someone who got held up in public, with a gun or other armament?

(I need to invest some time and figure out how to allow commenters to contribute their two cents, like many bloggers do).

My only actual experience is with #6. I started following six strange guys dressed like ninjas in my neighborhood, and behold, they had a gun and held me up. In that case, if I had had a gun, it could have turned out very bad for me. But everyone has their own tales.