Arming himself with his father's shotgun he investigated and caught a burglar in the act. Just then his mother pulled up outside in the family car. Fearing the burglar might harm his mother Jason fired. His mother reacted by bursting into the house and firing her revolver. Hit by bullets from both guns the burglar died. Jason's mother, like Jason, was defending her house against an intruder. There are about 645,000 defensive uses of handguns each year, according to Gary Kleck, a professor at Florida State University. He bases his figure on several surveys on handgun use, including one done for an organization that favors banning all guns. Kleck also concluded that hand guns used in self - defense, or some other legally justified cause kill 1,500 to 2,800 criminals every year. If other types of firearms besides handguns are included, then over 1,000,000 law - abiding citizens use guns for self - defense annually. Guns also provide vulnerable women with some form of protection against rape and other violent crime. Recently, Orlando, Florida saw an increase in the number of rapes over a twelve - month period from 12.8 per 100,000 to 35.9 per100,000. Women in Orlando were afraid to go out alone, even in the daytime. Citizens of Orlando demanded that something be done. Something was done. the Orlando Police Department set up a program to train women to use handguns. Over three thousand women armed themselves and took training courses. As a result, Orlando's rape figure dropped to 4.1 per 100,000 - a 90 percent drop from the previous high. Similar programs in Detroit and Highland Park, Michigan, and Montgomery, Alabama saw impressive reductions in crimes against women, including both rape and robbery. One woman victim decided on her own that she had enough. A fifty - one year old woman of Los Angeles, California, twice raped by the same man, purchased a handgun and took lesions to learn how to use it.
