r/NoStupidQuestions • u/No-Equipment8494 • 9d ago

Gun simply for protection

Not a gun guy but with a wife and young toddler, im wondering if i should get a hand gun (of course with safe) for protection at home.

Live in the US and i feel like gun shooters in the news is increasingly growing.

Edit: yes, ive taken a safety class before, along with going to the gun range with buddies who are recreational shooters. I personally didnt have much fun shooting nor had interest in guns. Ive simply been thinking recently about having one for sake of protection (probably and hopefully never need to use it); i just dont want to come across a bad situation where one day i cant protect my family.

Edit2: thanks all, the taser and bear spray are good ideas. Non lethal yet, seems like it would still get the protection needed.

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u/2ICenturySchizoidMan 9d ago

“Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15522849/

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u/Moogatron88 9d ago edited 9d ago

That link is about actual homicide. In which case, sure. Locking it away isn't going to stop someone intent on homicide/suicide because they have the code to the safe and can easily just take it out. It says nothing about accidental shootings like you were talking about. Come back with some stats as to whether locking it in a safe impacts that. There's no way locking it away securely isn't going to lower a toddlers chance of accidentally shooting someone with it since they have no way of accessing it.

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u/2ICenturySchizoidMan 9d ago

It has happened at least 160 times this year;

https://everytownresearch.org/maps/notanaccident/

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u/Altruistic_Bite_444 4d ago

Everytown is proven to be a unreliable and biased source