Why Gun Ownership Is The Smart Choice

Your’re reading this on the Prepared Gun Owners website which means one of two things are likely: 1. you’re either a gun owner or, at least, in favor of gun ownership, or 2. you’re looking to troll gun owners because your’re either uninformed or willfully ignorant about guns and gun ownership.

Either way, let me be clear: Gun ownership is the smart choice for a safe and free society.

Now, if you’re one of the uninformed or willfully ignorant, you may think that I’m in favor of gun ownership because I want to hurt people or because I want to see people die.

That simply isn’t the case.

I’m in favor of gun ownership because I believe in freedom but also because guns for self-protection are very much like insurance: you hope and pray to never have to use it, but you’re glad it was there to protect yourself and your family if you have to use it. Timothy Hsiao writes,

Consider this: In 2017, more than 2.7 million people were injured in 6.4 million car crashes. With 327 million people in the United States, this means the baseline probability of you getting injured in a car accident each year is slightly over 0.8 percent.

Now, a 0.8 percent chance might be perceived as pretty good odds. After all, that’s a 99.2 percent chance you won’t be injured. But .8 percent of 327 million still comes out to 2.7 million people each year, which is no small number. Are you willing to bet you’ll never be one of those unlucky few? Probably not.

Although your chances of getting into an accident are small, consider what you stand to lose if you do get injured. Making preparations, such as buying insurance or carrying road flares, isn’t irrational, despite statistical improbability.

With that point in mind, let’s look at the odds of violent criminal victimization. In 2018, 3.3 million people ages 12 and older were victimized in 6 million violent crimes. There were 23.2 violent victimizations per 1,000 U.S. residents ages 12 and older, meaning 2.3 percent of Americans 12 and older were victims of violent crime in 2018. This is much greater than the baseline odds of injury from motor vehicle accidents, for which preparation is rational.

If you have a 1-in-50 baseline chance of being violently victimized each year, wouldn’t it be rational to take prudent measures to protect yourself? I think so.

That is exactly why millions of ordinary Americans own guns. Firearms are extremely effective in preventing injury and do not require a great deal of effort to use and keep around. Guns are a perfectly reasonable, cost-effective, safe, and convenient form of risk mitigation.

Owning a gun is like keeping a spare tire in your trunk, a first aid kit at home, or an emergency savings account. We hope never to use them, but we’re glad we have them. None of this indicates paranoia. Carrying a gun is similar to carrying insurance, except it’s better: You actually get to collect the benefits without having to incur serious harm.

When you think about it that way, when you think about it rationally, gun ownership makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

And that is why, contrary to anti-gunner opinion, gun ownership is the smart choice.