Examples include shooting an attacker in mid-assault or displaying a gun to discourage a burglar. The gun could be fired or simply brandished. It’s typically defined as using a firearm to protect yourself, your family, or other people from a crime. But below we do our best to separate fact from fiction. The reality is that estimates of defensive gun use are so squishy that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May removed all figures from its website. Right-leaning media outlets have amplified that message in recent years by reporting that instances of self-defense by law-abiding owners actually outnumber gun crimes.Ī reader asks, Are there more instances of defensive gun use than gun crimes, and where does the claim come from? As the country reels from a pair of devastating mass shootings, the gun lobby has doubled down on the notion that “a good guy with a gun” is the only thing that can stop “a bad guy with a gun.” That maxim is central to the National Rifle Association’s decades-long mission to relax gun laws and increase gun sales.