SAF Founder Says His Book's Message Affirmed by New Data on Self-Defense

Business Wire, Oct 15, 2008

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Newly-reported data showing a rise in justifiable homicides reflects a renewed philosophy of self-reliance that was examined in the book America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age, co-authored by Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb late last year.

Gottlieb and co-author Dave Workman, senior editor of Gun Week, took a hard look at self-defense in their book, which has stayed at or near the top of Amazon.com's "Gun Control" category for the past 11 months.

The 2007 data, released by the FBI, shows 254 self-defense justifiable homicides by private citizens, the most reported for a single year since 1997. There were also 391 killings by police last year, the FBI reported.

"Interestingly," Gottlieb observed, "USA Today noted that Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck thinks the FBI is under-estimating the number of self-defense homicides by private citizens, maybe by as much as two-thirds.

"American citizens have realized that they are on the front lines of the war on crime, and the police cannot be everywhere, all the time," he continued. "Essentially, these citizens recognize they are responsible for their own safety, and the safety of their families, and they will not surrender without a fight.

"Our society is returning to its self-reliant roots," Gottlieb stated. "Armed citizens are the new 'first-responders' and since the 9/11 attack and Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, Americans are facing the new reality that government cannot protect you, whether it be from natural disasters or neighborhood thugs.

"Now, perhaps more than ever," he concluded, "Americans realize the importance of the Second Amendment and the individual civil right it has always protected. This is not a new right, as the Supreme Court confirmed earlier this year, but one that pre-dates our Constitution. What this new data reflects is a renewed willingness to exercise that right and to change course on how we deal with crime and personal safety."

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.