Few individuals are ever killed during the course of a robbery" (The Gun control Debate pg. 215).
Attempting to resolve the issue, Arthur L. Kellerman, a physician at the University of Tennessee, and nine other associates conducted a study on "Gun ownership as a Risk Factor for Homicide in the Home". It was published in the fall of 1994 in the respected New England Journal of Medicine, it concludes that "A gun kept in the home is far more likely to be involved in the death of a member of the household than it is to be used to kill in self defense." The Study evaluated 300 home homicides (one half involving firearms) that occur in the Cleveland, Memphis and Seattle areas between 1987 and 1992. A second set of households in which no homicide had taken place served as a control group. Among other findings, the researchers discovered that fifty one percent of homicides "occurred in the context of a quarrel or romantic triangle" (The CQ Researcher June 10, 1994 pg 509) According to the study held, "The Link between guns and homicide in the home was present among women as well as men, blacks as well as whites, and younger as well as older people" (The CQ Researcher June 10, 1994 pg 509). Many gun control advocates hail these studies and statements, saying that it supported warnings about the inherent hazards of firearms possession. Before long, though, other gun experts pointed to what they termed serious flaws in the studies findings.
According to the latest figures from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics violent crimes linked to the use of handguns increased more than twenty one percent between the years of 1991 and 1992. Handguns were used for almost 931,000 murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults in 1992. This was an increase of 152,000 from 1991. .
In no other country does the Constitution set forth a "right to keep and bear Arms." Most nations impose strict curbs on individual ownership and use of firearms.