I realize this article is 18 years old and many of you may have already read it. It may be posted here too but I couldn't find it. It was first published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Northwestern), Guns and Violence Symposium, vol. 86, no. 1, 1995: 150.
This article was written by two PhD Criminology Professors at FSU, boo FSU. The article was peer reviewed. It contains information that no sane individual can ignore when it comes to the bottom line of owning a gun. One of the interesting things that I discovered after reading part of it is how biased and useless one of the US Government's own surveys, THE NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY (NCVS) which is a favorite of a few anti gun zealots, hint Diane F., really is.
I urge anyone who hasn't read it to do so at the first possible chance they have.
http://www.saf.org/lawreviews/kleckandgertz1.htmThe main point that I take from this article is this: According to the authors of the survey Defensive Gun Use has the potential to or has saved approximately 656,891 to 762,408 lives each year. Three quarters of a million people in the United States are alive because someone had a gun.
Good reading.