Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D.

Is a firearm in your home “22 times more likely” to be used to kill or injure a family member than to be used for protection? Or “43 times more likely?” How about “18 times more likely?” Anti-gun groups and politicians say it is, citing research by Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D.

Dr. Kellermann’s dubious conclusions provide anti-gunners propaganda they use to try to frighten Americans into voluntarily disposing of their guns—in essence, to do to themselves what the anti-gunners have been unable to do to them by legislative, regulatory, or judicial means.

Most significant, though, Kellermann severely understates defensive uses of guns, by counting only those in which criminals are killed or injured.

Dr. Edgar A. Suter, writing in the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, explains the error in the context of an earlier Kellermann study, which compared family member deaths to killings of criminals:

“The true measure of the protective benefits of guns are the lives saved, the injuries prevented, the medical costs saved, and the property protected—not the burglar or rapist body count. Since only 0.1% to 0.2% of defensive gun usage involves the death of the criminal, any study, such as this, that counts criminal deaths as the only measure of the protective benefits of guns will expectedly underestimate the benefits of firearms by a factor of 500 to 1,000.”
(“Guns in the Medical Literature—A Failure of Peer Review,” March 1994, p. 134.)

Similarly, criminologist Gary Kleck notes, “More commonly, guns are merely pointed at another person, or perhaps referred to or displayed, and this sufficient to accomplish the ends of the user.” (Targeting Guns, Aldine de Gruyter, 1997, p. 162.)

Kleck’s 1995 landmark survey of defensive gun uses found guns used for protection as many as 2.5 million times annually. (“Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Fall 1995.)

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=119

An Afghan soldier keeps watch at the gate of an air force compound after the shooting. (Shah Marai / AFP/Getty Images / April 27, 2011)

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan— “Eight U.S. troops and an American contractor were killed early Wednesday when a veteran Afghan military pilot opened fire on trainers during a meeting in a military compound near Kabul International Airport.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility in what it said was the latest attack by an insurgent infiltrator.

… Azizullah [the attacker] contacted Taliban officials two years ago, and had been feeding them information. He planned his attack for five months, but it was only approved the day before because he was a valuable source.

“This attack indicates that we can access any security forces facilities of the enemy we want,” Mujahid said. “We have our infiltrators in all sections.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-pilot-20110428,0,3114785.story

Rev. Kimani Wright & Wife

“Presbyterian Minister Kimani Wright and his son arrived home in Hillendale, N.C. to find the house had been broken into. Wright retrieved a gun, went inside to investigate and discovered an armed intruder, whom he fired at. Upon coming under fire, the intruder fled the scene. (The Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, N.C. 04/22/11)

http://www.nraila.org/ArmedCitizen/

“Brandon, Mississippi will go down in history as the town where the Westboro Baptist Church met its match.

A couple of days before, one of them (Westboro protestors) ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his arse waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.

Most of the morons never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had Kansas plates in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over. Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the Kansas plated cars could get out.

A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business.”

http://www.ihatethemedia.com/a-simple-way-to-stop-westboro-baptist-church-funeral-protesters

“It’s an embarrassment of sorts for Canada: the Taliban springs more than 470 prisoners from a Kandahar City jail this week – a facility fortified by Canadians against such escapes.

Canada spent at least $4-million upgrading Sarpoza prison and training its staff after a previous jailbreak by the Taliban in 2008 that freed more than 800 inmates.

But late Sunday night and early Monday morning another 475 prisoners escaped Sarpoza through a secret 300-metre tunnel that the Taliban said it spent five months digging.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/canada-will-continue-to-plug-away-despite-afghan-jailbreak-harper/article1999402/

The U.S. military says Casio F-91W watches like this one have been used in terrorist bombings by members of al-Qaida, according to Guantanamo Bay files released by WikiLeaks.

by Lauren Frayer

“It’s a simple, water-resistant digital watch that retails for about $11. But beware: It could sell you out as al-Qaida.

A new batch of WikiLeaks files from Guantanamo Bay reveals a secret checklist U.S. investigators used to figure out whether detainees were really al-Qaida members. Among the criteria was the kind of wristwatch they were wearing.

The U.S. military lists the Casio F-91W model — a cheap plastic watch available all over the world — as a “suspicious item” on par with military transceivers, satellite phones, huge wads of cash and secret notes from al-Qaida facilitators.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/26/how-can-you-tell-someone-is-al-qaida-look-at-his-watch/

Dr. Donald Annino, Jr. with Mark Hunter prior to surgery. (Photo courtesy: Lightchaser Photography/BWH)

BOSTON (CBS) – “Surgeons at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have given a soldier from Indiana a new face.

30-year-old Army Private Mitch Hunter of Indianapolis was left severely disfigured after saving a woman’s life during a car accident ten years ago. He pushed a live wire off her and suffered a severe shock. It left him with a severely scarred face, a prosthetic nose and leg.

A team of more than 30 physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists and residents worked for more than 14 hours to replace Hunter’s face last week.”

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/04/26/soldier-gets-full-face-transplant-at-brigham-and-women%E2%80%99s/

TERROR leader Osama bin Laden has escaped a US plot to bomb him in his hideout, it was claimed yesterday.

Supporter Abu al-Fatah claimed the al-Qaeda chief had foiled a US mission to track him in his lair.

He claimed a computer memory stick containing interview questions sent to Bin Laden contained a tiny tracking beacon.

Its signals would have helped America target his location with an accurate unmanned drone attack.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3400411/Kill-Osama-Bin-Laden-plot-rumbled.html