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However, this does not take into account how many murders were prevented without killing the perpetrator.

A 1998 report 'What Are the Risks and Benefits of Keeping a Gun in the Home?' in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Gary Kleck concludes:
"Defensive uses of guns are both effective in preventing injury and more common than aggressive uses, in the home or outside it. The average American household is unlikely to experience a serious gun victimization or to use a gun defensively, but the latter is far more likely than the former. In light of the flaws and weak associations of case-control research, currently available data do not provide a sound empirical basis for recommending to the average American that he or she not keep a gun in the home."

Statistics:
In 2001 there were 19,727 homicides and 26,751 suicides.

In 2002, 30,242 people in the United States died from firearm-related deaths - 11,829 (39%) of those were murdered; 17,108 (57%) were suicides; 762 (3%) were accidents; and in 243 (1%) the intent was unknown.
In 2003, there were only 163 justifiable homicides by private citizens using handguns in the United States.

A Violence Policy Center (VPC) analysis reveals that, in the first half of 2005, there were 591 murder-suicide deaths in the U.S., of which 264 were suicides and 327 were homicides. 92% involved firearms. The most common type of murder-suicide was between two intimate partners, with the man killing his wife or girlfriend because of a breakdown in their relationship. In this study, 74 percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner. In this study, 75 percent of murder-suicides occurred in the home.

Kellermann report:
A 1986 article titled, "Protection or peril? An analysis of firearms related deaths in the home." (New Engl J Med 1986. 314: 1557-60.) written by doctors Arthur Kellermann and Don Reay, found a homeowner's gun was 43 times more likely to kill a family member, friend, or acquaintance, than it was used to kill someone in self-defense. Kellermann stated, "for every case of self-protection homicide involving a firearm kept in the home, there were 1.3 accidental deaths, 4.6 criminal homicides, and 37 suicides involving firearms." Kellermann tabulated gunshot deaths occurring in King County, Washington, from 1978 to 1983 and classified deaths as follows:

Type of Death	No.
Unintentional deaths	12
Criminal homicide	41
Suicide	333
Unknown	3
Total	389
Self-protection homicide	9

A followup study, (Kellermann AL. "Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home." Journal of Trauma, 1998; 45(2):263-67) reported you are 22 times more likely to kill somebody you know than to kill in self-defense.

A anti-gun control site article A Gun in the Home disputes Kellermann's logic.

I heard one man who used to carry a hand gun because of a job that put him in harms way say that pulling out a cell phone and dialing 911 (or even pretending to dial 911) was just as effective as pulling out a gun.

What's impossible to measure is how many murders are prevented with handguns in the home.

Kleck Report:
In a 1993 report, Gary Kleck, a Florida State University criminologist, found there were two million defensive gun uses (DGU's) per year.
A 1993 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), estimated 108,000 DGU's annually.

In "What Are the Risks and Benefits of Keeping a Gun in the Home?", (Kleck - JAMA.1998; 280: 473-475.), Kleck states:

"The vast majority of both harmful and beneficial uses of guns occur outside the home. For example, of 11,984 gun homicides committed in Chicago, Ill, between 1965 and 1990, only 2962 (24.7%) were committed in a home and not all of these occurred in the victim's home."
"Only 18% to 37% of defensive uses of guns occur inside the home of the victim/defender."

"Current evidence suggests that DGU is effective in preventing injury, and that defensive uses of guns in the home are substantially more numerous than criminal-aggressive uses in the home. This does not, however, conclusively prove that the net effect of keeping guns in the home is to make residents safer, especially with respect to the risks of a resident being murdered."

One problem with the data is a lot of people who have guns are also involved in criminal activity and murders are more likley a consequence of the latter.

Kleck's conclusion is:
"Defensive uses of guns are both effective in preventing injury and more common than aggressive uses, in the home or outside it. The average American household is unlikely to experience a serious gun victimization or to use a gun defensively, but the latter is far more likely than the former. In light of the flaws and weak associations of case-control research, currently available data do not provide a sound empirical basis for recommending to the average American that he or she not keep a gun in the home."

See also: Defensive Gun Uses: New Evidence from a National Survey, 2004 (Text not available online)

• The status of state action on:
  • Sale/transfer of guns to juveniles
  • Safe storage and gun owner accountability
  • Childproof guns and gun safety design standards
  • The Brady Background Check at gun shows
  • Carrying concealed weapons (CCW)
  • Local government authority to regulate guns
• Rates of child gun deaths
• Gun trafficking: Problem states that affect the rest of the nation.
• Actions that each state should take to prevent gun violence and improve its grade.

Types of guns:
For self protection a large caliber gun which will stun the atacker is recommended.
A 22 cal. gun does not have enough stopping power and reqires a fatal hit to the head, neck heart.
For home use a shotgun would be the best.

Links:
Worldwide Murder rates
Death rates (all causes)
HandgunReview.com
www.GunDirectory.com
www.RimFireCentral.com
Choosing a handgun
buying a gun
Buying your first gun
Bullets
State Gun Laws at the Brady Campaign and StateGunLaws.org with grades A thru F.
Gun (Firearm) laws in the United States (by state)
Guns in America
Defensive Gun Uses: New Evidence from a National Survey (Full text not available online)