Donald Trump says '2nd Amendment folks' can prevent Hillary Clinton from choosing judges

Wewlad. I love the bumper sticker slogans tossed around by gun nuts with no thought. There's so much to unpack in this statement.

First, Natural Rights are complete shit. This has long been dismissed by pretty much every major philosopher. There's nothing in nature that says you have a right to anything. As to where we get rights from, well I have a feeling you're not really equipped to handle that discussion, so let's move on, and just assume you have the Right to Self Defense for arguments sake.

So you have this right. What is self-defense? Do you include property defense? Does self-defense require de-escalation or at least absense of provocation? When does self-defense start, when does it stop? When are you justified in using deadly force, whenever you damn well feel like it (ala Stand your ground)?

Now when considering these questions you must also take into account several facts:

  • Of the estimated 100k DGUs a year by the NCVS, only 20% are against criminals who are also armed. Ergo, it's likely 80% are property defense, not defense of life.

  • Mace and baseball bats are almost as effective as firearms in break-in. Turning on lights and yelling are also very effective, but not as quite as effective as the above.

  • Women are 5x more likely to be murdered in a house with a firearm.

  • Children 5 - 14 are 11x more likely to die from a gun shot wound then other developed countries

  • Risk of suicide is significantly increased in homes with firearms.

/r/GunsAreCool Thread Parent Link - latimes.com