Does a gun make your home safer?

The right to possess a gun in the United States is a contentious issue, but addressing the question of whether having a gun in the house will make you and your family safer is rather simple.

Our best bet is to examine the data on gun ownership and gun violence and form judgments based on the findings.

Statistics about having guns at home

Having a gun in your house is statistically riskier for you and your family, particularly if you have small children or teenagers.

According to a 2014 study published in Annals of Internal Medicine, owning a weapon in the home, even when properly maintained, doubles your chance of being a homicide victim and triples your risk of suicide.

Children are especially vulnerable to gun violence in their homes since the majority of gun owners do not safeguard their guns.

According to a 2015 research published in the Journal of Urban Health, 4.6 million youngsters in the United States live in households with unlocked weapons.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and in the aftermath of the 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,

Connecticut, gun sales soared. However, data demonstrates that more weapons do not make people safer, but rather the contrary.

Having a gun in the house raises the risk of an accident, homicide, or suicide, all of which have been demonstrated to exceed the possible protective advantages of weapons.

Gun violence

The data on gun violence are applicable on a larger scale as well. The higher the prevalence of gun violence, the more weapons there are in a nation (whether for self-defense, concealed carry, or recreational usage).

Many studies over the previous decade have confirmed this finding, even after adjusting for other characteristics like wealth, crime levels, and demography.

Because there are so many firearms in the neighborhood, crimes like robbery and other felonies are more likely to result in gun violence.

Even small arguments or physical altercations have a higher probability of developing into violent crime in states with “stand your ground” legislation, according to Rand Corporation.

In summary, having a gun does not make you safer, and having a gun directly corresponds with a higher risk of gun-related killings and suicides.

While the facts on the safety of having a gun in the house are apparent, many homeowners find the decision to acquire a gun to be more difficult.

According to Peakfirearms, keep in mind that the safest approach to secure your house is to invest in the greatest home security system available and leave the weapons to the authorities.

If you do own a gun, placing it in a gun safe or home safe can help to lessen the risk of unintentional shootings and other forms of gun violence.

A weapon may not truly assist you in keeping an eye on your family

During a national emergency, it’s normal to be concerned about our safety and desire to do all necessary to safeguard ourselves and our loved ones.

The issue is that our risk perception is often skewed: we overestimate certain risks while downplaying others.

Many people believe that keeping a pistol in the house will protect them if someone comes in to assault or steal from them, however violent break-ins are extremely rare and have decreased significantly over the last 20 years. When this happens, possessing a gun is no guarantee of safety.

In the current climate, gun mishaps are expected to become more common. For one thing, because of social distance restrictions that have shuttered most shooting ranges, Americans who become first-time gun owners during the epidemic may not be able to take in-person safety lessons.

This is an issue because, according to Cassandra Crifasi, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, “we know that weapons in the house increase the chance of gun injury.”

Another major issue regarding weapons at the moment is suicide. Researchers followed more than 26 million persons in California for up to 12 years, tracking whether they bought firearms and if they died by suicide, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June.

They discovered that males who bought handguns were more than three times as likely to commit suicide — mostly gun suicide — as men who didn’t buy handguns, and women who bought handguns were more than seven times as likely to commit suicide as women who didn’t buy handguns.

“Ready access to firearms, particularly handguns, is a key risk factor for suicide,” the researchers found.

When gun owners are concerned about their safety, they may leave their firearms at home. Crifasi observes,

“Leaving the home is a totally different feeling than it was previously.” “I’d speculate that, whether or not they have a permit, more individuals are carrying concealed when they go out in public.”

Fear is a strong motivator, and the desire to defend oneself is strong among us all right now. However, science does not often back up our instincts and sentiments, and the study on weapons goes to one conclusion. We will be in more danger during this epidemic if we have more firearms and keep them near to us.

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