Armed Self-Defense Stories Underscore New Defensive Gun Use Data

[SVPete]

Armed Self-Defense Stories Underscore New Defensive Gun Use Data

https://pjmedia.com/amy-swearer/2026/09/04/armed-self-defense-stories-underscore-new-defensive-gun-use-data-n4956889

... And now, we can thank Georgetown professor Bill English for dealing a devastating blow to the gun control narrative — with hard data.

English’s 2026 National Firearms Survey (now available online) is a massive, comprehensive analysis of gun ownership and gun use trends in the United States. And the numbers tell a remarkable tale about the importance of the right to keep and bear arms.

Among other key findings, the survey estimates that, on average, American civilians defend themselves or others with firearms a staggering 2.2 million times every year. Just over 37% of American gun owners are estimated to have used a firearm to protect themselves, their families, or their property at least once, and a majority of those have done so on multiple occasions.

Most of these defensive gun uses will never even make it into a police report, much less national headlines. Gun owners report having to fire their gun in fewer than one-in-four defensive scenarios. The survey also found that 70% of the time, the defensive gun use was so successful that “no crime remained to be reported to police.”

No career advancement for you, Prof. English!

[ADsOutburst]

Years ago, I read a letter to the editor of the local newspaper about this subject. The writer said something to the effect of "Everyone knows that guns are used to commit crime far more often than the occasional shooting of a criminal by a gun owner".

Such obviously false and fallacious arguments frustrates me, and I hope that person feels really stupid for saying it.