The VPC contradicted itself, and the anti-gunners fell for it

[friendly_iconoclast]

From the other group:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/126210633

Self-Defense Gun Use is Rare, New VPC Study Confirms

Washington, DC — New research from the Violence Policy Center (VPC) confirms that contrary to what the firearms industry and gun lobby claim, private citizens rarely use guns to kill criminals or stop crimes.

The new study, Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self-Defense Gun Use, analyzes the most recent federal data available, which shows that private citizens use guns to harm themselves or others far more often than to kill in self-defense.

Got that headline and first sentence? A strong clear claim, is it not? Not surprisingly,
given the general mendacity of Josh Sugarman and the VPC, it's not true

Who says so? The VPC itself, in the body of the touted 'study':

http://www.vpc.org/studies/justifiable16.pdf

Page 5:

ESTIMATES ON SELF-DEFENSE USE OF FIREARMS FROM THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY

Hemenway notes, and numerous others agree, that the most accurate survey of self-defense
gun use is the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) conducted
by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

And what numbers did the NCVS give for self defensive use of firearms?
From the next page:

SELF-PROTECTIVE BEHAVIORS, BY TYPE OF CRIME, 2012-2014

"Threatened or attacked with a firearm"

Note: This is *not* the only type of defensive gun use. Sometimes, mere display suffices
and many DGUs are not reported to police - mine wasn't, for instance

Cut to the chase- how many of these 'rare' occasions happened during the period under study?

262,500

From the same page:

SELF-PROTECTIVE BEHAVIORS, BY TYPE OF CRIME, 2012-2014
Violent Crime 2012-2014
Property Crime 2012-2014

Self-Protective Behavior
Threatened or attacked with a firearm
163,600 99,900

Given the total number of DGUs, and even accounting for the restricted definition,

262,500/731 (days) = 359 defensive gun uses per day 2012-2014

How many people were murdered via firearm in 2013? The FBI says 8454:

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2009-2013.xls

8454/365(days) = ca. 21 firearms murders per day

Therefore in 2013 there were 18x as many defensive gun uses (using the VPC's own
restricted definiton than there were murders via gun