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Comment by soco | Hacker News Reader

Somehow I never read news about "rapist shot dead by attacked woman". Are you positive that buying more firearms will make it happen? Because it definitely doesn't look we're there yet.

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Have you considered that you don't hear about those defensive uses because your sources of news simply don't report them?

1. https://www.fox13memphis.com/top-stories/teen-tries-to-rape-...

2. https://www.foxnews.com/us/south-carolina-mother-of-3-shoots...

3. https://www.azfamily.com/news/us_world_news/police-woman-sho...

4. https://www.al.com/news/anniston-gadsden/2015/04/17-year-old...

5. https://myfox8.com/news/nc-grandfather-shoots-home-invaders-...

6. https://www.kltv.com/2019/12/05/tyler-police-arrive-scene-fi...

"Police: Woman shoots, kills man peeping into her bedroom window"

Maybe she could have just called the police? Or take a picture of him and post on NextDoor, which is what happens in our neighborhood. Of course, it always turns out to be a misunderstanding; the Amazon delivery guy trying to figure out if someone's home so they can leave a package. But at least they are just publicly shamed on the web instead of dead from a gunshot wound.

The article is short on details but it's possible she did call the police. Other articles explored the possibility the woman knew the man, which would bolster a claim of self defense (a stalker, abusive ex-lover, etc)

It's also possible that she's tried that in the past, but given that the guy would be watching her as she does it, it may not be super practical to expect him to wait around for the police to arrive.

And I don't know how many times the police have to be called for this only to show up and find nothing before they stop promptly sending an officer for new reports.

It happens but even the six stores a month in American Rifleman aren't statistically significant, when compared to the number of "bad person kills less bad/good person" numbers or "accidental shooting death" numbers.

> in 2020, there have been unintentional shootings by over 220 children. This has resulted in 92 deaths and 135 injuries

Math is hard...

You should look up the numbers of yearly defensive gun uses in the United States. The CDC reports 60,000 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses each year

> Kristen McMains, a 25-year-old lawyer in Louisville, Kentucky, first became suspicious that John Ganobcik was stalking her when she traversed the skywalk connecting her office building to the parking garage across the street. She felt her fears were confirmed when she boarded an elevator and the suspicious man followed -- but did not press a button. When the doors opened on the fourth level of the parking garage, she bolted for her car, and Ganobcik sprinted after her.

> Before McMains could get in her car, her attacker caught up, slammed her head, and jabbed at her with an eight-inch rusty serrated knife. He forced her into the passenger seat and said, “We’re going.” Fearing rape and murder, McMains fought viciously to escape, tearing off all 10 of her fingernails in the struggle, but she was unable to escape. Desperate, she told Ganobcik that she had just cashed a check and could offer him money. When she reached for her purse, instead of money, she pulled out the .32 Beretta Tomcat her father had bought for her.

> At first, it failed to fire, but McMains kept pulling the trigger and ultimately she shot Ganobcik in the neck and the buttocks. He fled, and a passerby called 911. Eventually, Ganobcik pled guilty to robbery and attempted kidnapping, receiving a 15-year prison sentence. McMains’ use of force was immediately recognized as justified.

https://ccwsafe.com/blog/the-kristen-mcmains-case-pt3

In most incidents where people use firearms to protect themselves no shots are fired, just brandishing the weapon is enough. Those incidents don't make the news.

Buy if you're looking for an actual news story, here's one.

https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/resident-shoots-woul...

> just brandishing the weapon is enough

The comment is probably not meant this way, but brandishing has connotations of anger, excitement, or intimidation.

I would caution one not to do this as it may be illegal in your jurisdiction. Only draw a firearm with the intent to use it, not with the intent to intimidate. Certainly, the intent to use it may have a side effect of intimidating an aggressor — I don’t dispute that.

You don't pull a gun unless you intend to use it. The law recognizes this. If you pull the gun with justified intent, and you end up not having to use it, that's just a happy circumstance. This has happened to me.

The article you linked says "The manner of Brackett's death is now ruled as a homicide."

They do exist, but Youtube's algo won't suggest them unless that is something you are already interested in. I find videos almost weekly of store owners and individuals defending themselves. The people that have training and experience with their tools are usually able to successfully fend off the attackers.

There dozens of defensive uses of firearms daily. Many don’t result in shooting and even when they do they rarely make local news and certainly not beyond. There are a few sources that are trying to catalog these events I’ll try to snag one when I’m not on mobile. I’ve had to use a firearm before and it was never reported because no one got shot.

There is a plethora of research and data attempting to estimate how many crimes are stopped/deterred beforehand merely by the presence of a firearm by the victim. None of these estimates are small.

Research questioning prisoners why they don't commit home invasions list the presence of firearms in the home as the number one reason. My state has very few home invasions and nearly all of them are drug/gang related.

If an attacker is stopped before it happens, we don't really know if it would have been a rape or a mugging or an assault.

Don't take my post as fact, please research this and come up with your own opinion. Let it simmer a bit in your mind. You can call me crazy later, just let it percolate for a little bit first!

Here are my thoughts (or hypotheses, if you will):

Guns are a very political topic. There are narratives in place on both sides of the aisle. Most news is reported in service to the narratives that outlet supports.

Do the news sources you consume ever tell you about about defensive gun usage? In any context? These stories aren't hard to find if you look for them.

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