The frightening rise in crimes of violence throughout the country has caused more and more people to arm themselves. They buy guns to protect their homes and carry with them for personal safety when travelling. Unfortunately, instead of safety, what the new handgun owner too often gets is personal tragedy. As I found out in my reading, a handgun does not protect the American home very well. The home handgun is far more likely to kill or injure family members and friends than anyone who breaks in, and is especially harmful to young adults and children. Because 90 percent of break-ins take place when no one is home, the handgun bought for defense is very often stolen. According to some statistics, each year about 100,000 handguns are stolen from ordinary citizens. These guns then enter the criminal underworld and are used in more crimes. Thus, the citizens who lost guns are helping to arm the criminal class.
As a New York City police officer recently pointed out to a homeowner who asked if he should buy a handgun to protect his home, too often it is the homeowner himself who ends up getting shot and killed, because he often warns the robber by saying something like "Stop!" or "What do you think you are doing" Possibly, the thief turns and fires.
In street crime, the use of a handgun for defense is very risky, with the defender often losing the gun and having it used against him. The handgun owner seldom even gets the chance to use his or her gun because the moment of surprise is always with the attacker. In fact, trying to use a handgun to keep someone off makes the risk of death quite a bit higher.
For the ordinary citizen, using a handgun is seldom helpful for defense on the street. And, in the home, the only way to get real defense from a personal handgun would be to have it always at the ready, perhaps in hand loaded and ready to fire every time there is a knock on the door. That is not exactly the American way or my idea of a civilized society. What is the passage mainly talking about