Do guns in the home keep you safe?

To the Editor,

Prior to the passage of on law on the safe storage of firearms, there were many who argued against such a requirement.  The primary argument against a safe storage law is that ready access to a firearm is necessary to assure the safety of a homeowner in the case of an intruder.  The underlying assumption is a gun makes one safer.

Gun owners claim they want to feel safe within their homes.  They do not want their guns locked away.  Gun owners want ready access to firearms should they be needed.  They need to protect their homes and valuables from potential intruders.

The sense of safety is an emotional issue.  The need for a gun is an emotional response to the need for the sense of safety.  The real question is: does a gun in the home make one safer. 

A rational response weighs the benefits of protecting one’s self and family in the case of an intruder against the inherent dangers of gun ownership.  On the one hand, thieves looking to steal valuables do not want to expose themselves to injury or arrest by entering occupied residences.  They are much more likely to break into unoccupied homes particularly during the day when there is less chance of encountering a resident. There is a very low probability that a gun will be used to deter an intruder.

On the other hand, unprotected guns are one target in the thieves search for valuables.  It has been reported stolen guns have nearly nine times the likelihood of being used in other crimes.

The National Rifle Assn. and gun lobbyists insist guns make us safer.  If that were true, America would be one of the safest countries in the world since it has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world.  In fact, it also has one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the world. Johns Hopkins publishes studies on gun ownership. According to their reports, firearms are the leading cause of death for U.S. children. They also state gun ownership leads to increased suicide, homicide and accidental deaths.  The risk of homicide is doubled if there is a firearm in the home.

Firearms are involved in one half of suicide deaths.  Harvard reports about 85% of attempts with a firearm are fatal. Some other suicide methods have fatality rates as low 5%. Nine out of ten suicide attempters who survive never try again.  Countless numbers of suicide attempters would survive and live on if they did not have access to a gun.

In cases of domestic violence, a gun in the home increases the risk of death fivefold. And most frequently, it is the death of a woman.

For those who may still think guns make one safer, one in two homes in Mississippi and Louisiana have firearms.  The death rates from guns in those two states are 33.9 and 29.1 per 100,000 residents.  In Rhode Island, roughly one home in seven has a firearm. Rhode Island’s death rate is 5.6 per 100,000.

What would be a rational versus an emotional response to having a gun in one’s home?  A rational person would look at the data and find having a firearm in the home presents far more risk to themselves and family than the relative small risk of finding an intruder in one’s home.  That would be a common sense, rational response.

Joseph H. Crowley

Cranston