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[Phmcw]

Here's another case where placing guns in the hands of every day citizens has helped stop crime:
http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2010/05/04/armed-citizen-stops-2-walgreens-robbers/

Edit:
More recounts: http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2007/04/17/mass_murderers_v_armed_citizens/  (one of which was someone assaulting people with a knife...)

A challenge for you...

Find me a story of a case you describe.  Arizona, Vermont, and several other states have no restrictions on carry, but I cannot find one instance where gunfire started and people were mercilessly slaughtered in a way you describe.

I can find more instances where armed citizens helped stop crime and violence against innocent citizens, but nothing you describe.

I wouldn't know, I'm not American. But there is these little thing called statistics that show that, even though our police in a worse state than yours, our country is in the middle of a separation and we have a real problem with illegal immigration, we have more than four times less homicide than you.

[LoSboccacc]

the problem of statistics on crime versus population and that kind of crime rate is that they measure of much 'violence oriented' a cultural group is, not showing a correlation between violence and gun ownage.

it would be nice to find the data and figure out some other statistic. one which I'd like to see is

number of death by assault/number of assault
number of assault with guns/number of assault
number of death by gun in assault/number of death in assault

if that one is significantly higher, then that would at least show some kind of "deadliness" measure of the assault, from which one may infer something.

I'm using assault here as crime is too generic and may or may not sway the statistic as 'crime' may include activity were physical confrontation is arguably avoided (that is, a petty armed robbery where there is only intention to intimidate and not kill)

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

In my country, it is very difficult to buy a gun, and there are many licenses and regulations required to own one. Coincidentally, we also don't tend to shoot each other all that much. How odd.

[Leafsnail]

number of death by assault/number of assault
number of assault with guns/number of assault
number of death by gun in assault/number of death in assault

Harder than you'd think.  I mean, to take the Home Office figures:

Serious or fatal injury accounted for three per cent of all firearm crimes in 2006/07.

Which seems low, until you realise that

Weapons (excluding air weapons) were fired in 40 per cent of firearm crimes.

Overall, firearms (including air weapons) were used in 0.3 per cent of all recorded crimes, or
one in every 300. This proportion is halved when air weapons are excluded.

And there isn't much distinction between firearm assault and firearm robbery.  I mean, is it still a firearm assault if the gun isn't fired?

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

And there isn't much distinction between firearm assault and firearm robbery.  I mean, is it still a firearm assault if the gun isn't fired?

I got an image of a man with a crate of guns, throwing them at people.

[Andir]

number of death by assault/number of assault
number of assault with guns/number of assault
number of death by gun in assault/number of death in assault

Harder than you'd think.  I mean, to take the Home Office figures:

Serious or fatal injury accounted for three per cent of all firearm crimes in 2006/07.

Which seems low, until you realise that

Weapons (excluding air weapons) were fired in 40 per cent of firearm crimes.

Overall, firearms (including air weapons) were used in 0.3 per cent of all recorded crimes, or
one in every 300. This proportion is halved when air weapons are excluded.

And there isn't much distinction between firearm assault and firearm robbery.  I mean, is it still a firearm assault if the gun isn't fired?

Even if a person carrying a gun into a store (concealed and never draws it) and tries to take something off the shelf, it's considered a gun related crime.

[Andir]

I wouldn't know, I'm not American. But there is these little thing called statistics that show that, even though our police in a worse state than yours, our country is in the middle of a separation and we have a real problem with illegal immigration, we have more than four times less homicide than you.

I'm not sure how those are related.  There is an illegal immigrant problem in the US, but it really has nothing to do with gun related violence in most cases.  The problems are basically job related and people don't go shooting each other for that.  (If you get that impression, you are sadly misinformed and maybe that's why you are so anti-gun.)

Gun violence in America is violence that would likely have happened, gun or no gun (IMHO.)  The only way you can use statistics that compare firearm to non-firearm violence is to show how many of those offenders were able to get hold of a firearm.  Now the fun part of that statement is that it's pretty easy to get a firearm in the US so guess what?  The stats show higher gun related crime.  Wow!

If citizens were able to carry weapons on them at all times, it's projected through the same statistics you keep holding up that less gun violence happens in those areas with more legal gun presence here in the US.  Now, if you compare Detroit/Chicago to those statistics you'll see that the gun violence goes up because it's illegal for anyone to carry.  Thus, guns become a power tool that nobody else can legally use and those who remain legal are at a disadvantage... and it's known by the criminals.

[LoSboccacc]

Serious or fatal injury accounted for three per cent of all firearm crimes in 2006/07.

Which seems low, until you realise that

Weapons (excluding air weapons) were fired in 40 per cent of firearm crimes.

wow people down there sure have a shitty aim 

joke aside, I think that with a knife is harder to miss, but knifing is up close and personal so there is less chance of actually come to a knifing until there is a specific harm intention

[Leafsnail]

Well, a lot of those could've been firing into the air, accidental discharges, disturbing the peace, intentional wounding shots or whatever.

[thobal]

Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, the was very little violent crime in the "Wild" West(other than the nearly wholesale extermination of the natives) and most everyone had a gun out there.

[Leafsnail]

Uhuh.  I think I'm gonna need a source on that one.  The problem with using reported crime would be that, well, a lot of crimes would go unreported due to the uselessness of legal authorities.

I mean yeah, I know there weren't duels and gunbattles back and forth, but...

[thobal]

The thing about crime in the old west was there were usually only two punishments. Exile and Death. Except for public drunkenness. For the most part, the desperadoes stayed in friendly climates where there was more population to hide amongst. It's likely the prevalence of firearms wasn't what kept the crime rates down.

Transylvania's nearly nonexistent crime rate under Vlad the Impaler was not due to the fact that there were no guns.

[Andir]

Uhuh.  I think I'm gonna need a source on that one.  The problem with using reported crime would be that, well, a lot of crimes would go unreported due to the uselessness of legal authorities.

I mean yeah, I know there weren't duels and gunbattles back and forth, but...

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-wild-west-of-myth-and-reality.html

In spite of these specific incidents of violence, the lawlessness of the Wild West has been blown out of proportion. Ironically, the myth of the lawless West began before the period was over.
...
So, was there violence in the mountains, plains, and frontier towns of the old west? Absolutely. Yet, as with any wilderness, a man was just as likely, if not more likely, to die from thirst, starvation, drowning, freezing, snakebite, falling off a mountain, falling off his horse, being attacked by animals, or any one of a hundred other things. Most of the settlers moving west, whether they were farmers, cowboys, miners, or some other profession, were honest and hardworking. Just as today, outlaws existed, yet in most places and for most people, violent crime was not the daily norm that popular entertainment would have us believe.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

I mean, is it still a firearm assault if the gun isn't fired?

From what I recall, "assault" is defined as threatening someone. There are other, more serious crimes for actually injuring them. Of course, the line does get kind of blurred as "assault" generally entails attacking someone with something, but pulling a gun and threatening to shoot them classifies as well.

[Neonivek]

Sometimes Anti-Gun laws are less about actually preventing guns from being used but rather to make arresting people carrying firearms easier.