Concerning: "There were only 323 justifiable homicides."

This statistic is trotted out to imply that 90 million gun owners do not need 300 million guns because the odds of you using it to defend yourself is -- apparently -- one in a million.

Yet, defensive gun use ranges from 500,000 to 3 million annually, depending upon the statistical model employed. Let's low-ball that and say 500,000.

That means people who produce a weapon to lawfully defend themselves will kill their attacker only 323 times out of 500,000 (to 3 million). For a demographic apparently determined to kill people in the name of an overeager hero complex the overall fatality rate seems strikingly miniscule despite the fact it would be legally justifiable.

Perhaps gun owners are not as blood-thirsty as they are portrayed. perhaps it would be better if discussions were centered the criminal class, not people out to simply protect themselves and their families.



By the way, the police are believed to kill upwards of 1,000 people annually, though no one can be certain because there is no official data.