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The CATO Institute would like your help: Defensive Gun Use Map

jmelvin

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
2,195
Location
Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
As described from the Cato.org website, this website needs your input to provide an excellent resource to show how often guns are used for self defense:

Gun control proponents want legislation that will restrict access to firearms. The rationale for such legislation is to reduce accidental shootings and the criminal use of guns against people. But if harm reduction is the goal, policymakers should pause to consider how many crimes--murders, rapes, assaults, robberies--are thwarted by ordinary persons who were fortunate enough to have access to a gun. Gun control proponents cannot deny that people use guns successfully against criminals, but they tend to play down how often such events take place. The purpose of this map is to draw more attention to this aspect of the firearms policy debate.

Two additional points are worth noting. First, the map is not comprehensive. Criminals will often flee the scene when they discover that their intended target has a gun. With no shots fired, no injuries, and no suspect in custody, news organizations may report nothing at all. Thus, it is important to remember that news reports can only provide us with an imperfect picture of defensive gun use in America. Second, when a citizen is able to shoot an attacker or hold a rapist or robber until the police arrive, it is very likely that more than one crime has been prevented because if the culprit had not been stopped, he could have targeted other citizens as well. The bottom line is that gun owners stop a lot of criminal mayhem every year.


http://www.cato.org/guns-and-self-defense/

The map inputs simply ask for the approximate date, a short description, and location of the defensive gun usage along with any supporting weblinks, and the e-mail address of the person providing the input.
 

Ironbar

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
385
Location
Tigard, Oregon, USA
http://www.cato.org/guns-and-self-defense/

The map inputs simply ask for the approximate date, a short description, and location of the defensive gun usage along with any supporting weblinks, and the e-mail address of the person providing the input.

Here's what else it asks for:

"Provide URL(s) of the news article or sources referencing the incident (at least one source is required)"

So, I guess if it wasn't reported in the news then it didn't happen (according to the CATO institute anyway).
 

thebigsd

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
3,535
Location
Quarryville, PA
Here's what else it asks for:

"Provide URL(s) of the news article or sources referencing the incident (at least one source is required)"

So, I guess if it wasn't reported in the news then it didn't happen (according to the CATO institute anyway).

It says "or sources referencing the incident". That could be any number of things. They are seeking to substantiate the account being presented. This is a sound strategy since they are attempting to make an accurate and useful map. Who wants to see a map full of false reports?
 
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