Gun ownership is a fundamental American right as well as one of the most divisive social and political topics of our time. In the United States, there are over 300 million privately held firearms, or around one gun for every man, woman, and kid, with nearly a third of the population having at least one gun.
Many of these guns were purchased for home security, which makes sense given that, in the right circumstances, a gun can be your first and most effective line of defense against intruders and criminals. Is it, however, the best option for you? Visit ar15 lower receiver for more info.
Advantages of gun ownership include a sense of security.
It’s a straightforward calculation for many gun owners: carrying a gun offers them at least a fighting chance if a burglar or house invasion succeeds to break in. While precise figures on the frequency of defensive gun use in the United States are difficult to come by (ranging from 55,000 to over two million per year), none of that matters if you are one of the thousands of American gun owners who use a firearm in self-defense against a criminal or intruder each year.
Criminals, like the rest of us, dislike being on the receiving end of a gunshot, which is why 74 percent of them actively attempt to avoid breaking into homes when the owners are present. To put it another way, the threat of being shot is often enough to deter thieves from targeting certain residences.
Cons of gun ownership: Having a gun in the house makes it statistically riskier to live there.
Guns, however, are incapable of distinguishing between criminals and innocent bystanders. Unintentional shootings are four times as common as gun use in lawful home defense scenarios, according to studies. You’re really more likely to shoot someone by accident than you are to shoot a home invader, according to statistics.
Having a gun in the house enhances your chances of becoming a victim of a firearm-related homicide or suicide. This holds true regardless of the sort of gun you own, how you keep it, or how many weapons you own, according to researchers.
Finally, if you have children, you should consider how having a firearm in the house may affect their safety. Most gun-owning parents take steps to prevent their children from discovering and handling their firearms. Despite these attempts, children frequently handle weapons in the home without their parents’ awareness; in one research, 22% of parents who claimed their children had never handled guns in the home were contradicted by their children. Furthermore, 72 percent of the time when a child or teen is killed by a firearm, the gun used to kill them comes from their own home.