1.2 "It's too easy for your attacker to take your gun away from you and shoot you."
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This article is from the talk.politics.guns Official Pro-Gun FAQ, by Ken Barnes (kebarnes@cc.memphis.edu) with numerous contributions by others.
1.2 "It's too easy for your attacker to take your gun away from you and shoot you."
See Kleck,"Point Blank"(see above) p.122.
also_Uniform Crime Reports: Law Enforcement Officers Killed
and Assaulted 19xx,"United States Department of Justice, Federal
Bureau of Investigation, SuDoc#s J 1.14/7-6:9xx-993
In summary: The techniques required for "weapon retention" are not
all that difficult to master, but the greatest risk for being disarmed
by an attacker appears to be from open carry in a holster as police
officers do. Some ten to fourteen percent of law enforcement officers
who are killed are shot with their own guns. By contrast, an average
of 1% or fewer of armed citizens end up disarmed by their attacker,
no doubt in part because criminals_expect_police to be armed, but are
mostly unpleasantly_surprised_to find their intended victims are.
Police are also more frequently in contact with desperate and dangerous
people, who_they_must attempt to personally apprehend, increasing
their risk of being in close enough proximity to be disarmed. Private
citizens with guns need not take such risks, and can carry concealed,
confronting their attackers at a distance in many situations, rather
than permitting attackers to get close enough where a knife or brute
strength can come into play. In a home defense situation this is
particularly true, if the armed homeowner is alerted by the sound of
forced entry, or by an alarm. For the physically weaker members of
our society, for the elderly, or the disabled, no other means of self-
defense negates the advantages of youth, agility and strength as
effectively as a firearm (see 3.1), and none but firearms can defeat
strength in numbers. In most cases, the credible brandishing of a gun
convinces criminals to look for an easier target, but if life-
threatening danger is imminent, and the situation permits, having a gun
gives the defender an additional option of resistance, which can reduce
the risk of being injured or killed (see 1.1 and 1.1.a).
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