The risk of having a gun in the home

[GreenStormCloud]

47. Sources.

The 680 is from the OP. Perhaps you should ask him where he got his number. I simply accepted his number and used it. I notice that you didn't post asking him where he got his number. However, a quick check of the CDC website http://webappa.cdc.gov/cgi-bin/broker.exe has 606 for the year 2010. Even if you change the focus to how many households have guns, it is still a very low number of deaths.

The few hundred number is from the FBI UCR report. However, the FBI reported number is for justifiable homicide and does not include excusable homicide nor does it include homicide initially reported to them as murder but later changed to justifiable/excusable. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-15 reports 260 for private citizen justifiable homicide for 2011. That number is lower than actual for the reasons stated.

Also remember that for a gun to be used in self-defense it isn't necessary to kill the criminal. Almost always they will run away if they discover their intended victim is armed. There are lots of videos of self-defense caught in surveillance cameras that document exactly that.

Those who are concerned with the possibility of a loved one killing themselves should focus on the "why" and act on that, as opposed to worrying about the "how".