NRA's official magazines have a page near the beginning of each issue entitled "The Armed Citizen" and it consists of 7 or 8 articles selected from newspapers from all around the nation. They are stories of how citizens have used firearms to thwart or stop cold criminal, murderers housebreakers and the like, from perpetrating their intended crimes. Often it's the elderly or women or even children, the weak and seemingly defenseless who are attacked. The gun equalizes the situation and gives the intended victim a fighting chance. Much more often than not, the intended victim comes through unscathed. The little caption that precedes the column states guns are used over 2 million times each year to halt crimes.

I would counter the argument which someone made earlier that a gun is never a defensive weapon. It obviously IS a defense against personal assault and other crimes. And if someone is attacking you with his little broadsword, wouldn't you rather defend with a gun? I know I would!