Are handguns dangerous

[buckshooter]

One of my friends told me that handguns are the most dangerous of all guns? Is this true or not? Because he said that they can go off at any moment. I would like to prove him wrong by your answers.
Please reply

Buckshooter

[dukkillr]

Well you're going to get a lot of nonsensical answers like, "All guns are dangerous" and "No guns are dangerous" but if you just compared accidents per type of gun I would suspect you'd find that handguns are indeed the most dangerous.  I'd tend to believe some of that may be because of the environment handguns tend to be in.  IE a 10 year old kid is far more likely to find a loaded pistol in his parents bedroom drawer than a shotgun or rifle.  My guess would also be that handguns tend to be in the hands of less educated shooters who own only one handgun for self defense. 

I would suspect most shotgun accidents are non-fatal (think Dick Cheney).  I would also guess that most rifle accidents are judgment accidents (shooting at something moving in the bush rather than knowing your target). 

As I type this I've convinced myself that your question probably needs more information.  Do you mean all accidents, accidental discharges, misfires and malfunctions or anything that involves a gun and an injury?

[dcewolf]

Well you're going to get a lot of nonsensical answers like, "All guns are dangerous" and "No guns are dangerous" but if you just compared accidents per type of gun I would suspect you'd find that handguns are indeed the most dangerous.  I'd tend to believe some of that may be because of the environment handguns tend to be in.  IE a 10 year old kid is far more likely to find a loaded pistol in his parents bedroom drawer than a shotgun or rifle.  My guess would also be that handguns tend to be in the hands of less educated shooters who own only one handgun for self defense. 

I would suspect most shotgun accidents are non-fatal (think Dick Cheney).  I would also guess that most rifle accidents are judgment accidents (shooting at something moving in the bush rather than knowing your target). 

As I type this I've convinced myself that your question probably needs more information.  Do you mean all accidents, accidental discharges, misfires and malfunctions or anything that involves a gun and an injury?

I'd tend to agree with dukkillr especially if you are looking at the number of people injured with said guns.  The problem with just looking at the numbers though is first off handguns are used more for crimes than other types of guns -- easier to conceal and carry than a full size rifle or shotty -- (if you didn't have handguns though criminals would be just as effective with some other type of object).  Also people and tend to be more "sloppy" in how they handle handguns than they are with larger firearms.  However I have seen plenty of folks being extremely sloppy with how they are handling their shotguns at public skeet shoots I've been to.  Plus kids -- especially if not properly educated -- would be more likely to play with a smaller firearm than a larger one if they found it....  Now with all that said it doesn't make the handgun any more dangerous than a rifle, or a shotgun, or a knife, or a baseball bat, or a car.....  It depends more on the person who is in control of the item rather than the item itself.  Are cars just as (or more) dangerous than handguns because of reckless or drunken drivers -- or is the person the real danger?

All that just speaks to AD's - ND's , or just general misuse....just a blanket statement of being most dangerous does seem to need more information -- how are they the most dangerous?? Misuse? Catastrophic failures? Misfires?? ETC...

[Castaway]

A handgun in no more inherently dangerous than is a rifle or shot gun, or for that matter a bow with a nocked arrow.  One could make an argument the bow is less safe loaded than any firearm since it is more likely to have an accidental discharge in pulling it back or letting off tension on the drawstring or even cutting onesself on a broadhead, but it would be an inane argument.  Handguns are no more likely to spontaneously go bang than a long gun.  As stated above, handguns are more likely to be found in an environment where an accident could occur but that doesn't make them more dangerous in itself.

[Dand]

One of those questions that can be debated endlessly.  But: I remember when I shot my first handgun, all of a sudden I realized how easy it was to get the barrel pointed in an unsafe direction - I was by myself and it was a single action revolver but the realization was sudden and vivid even though I hadn't done anything unsafe - I just appreciated why my dad had been so opposed to me getting a handgun when I was a few years younger and maybe less careful.

Given the small size and that they are designed to be held and operated with one hand, I think its much easier to be unsafe with a handgun.  And so many are designed to repeat fire with just the pull of the trigger makes it easier to be unsafe.

Once I had the long time secretary of our gun club point a jammed loaded PPK 380 straight at my stomach when he asked for help with the jam!!!!!  I kind of freaked and he was VERY embarrassed to be so careless.  He would never have swung around from the firing line like that with a long gun.

I really think it takes more training and more constant awareness to be truly safe with a handgun.

[glockman55]

No more than any gun as long as you learn the proper and safe way to handle it. Some hand guns are ready to fire all the times, no safety, like the Glock for one. Any first timer buying their first pistol should take a safety class of some sort first.. JMO.

[Illhunter]

I would say that it is all in the person with the gun in hand if properly trained there should not be an accident but they do happen. I also feel that alot of people that buy their first handgun don't know how to use it safely and should be required to take a safety class before purchase. But in essence no gun is actually dangerous it is person that has gun in hand no gun i have seen goes off without someone pulling the trigger. this is my  .02


Terry

[dakotashooter2]

Because he said that they can go off at any moment.

 This is a statement pushed by anti-gunners.  Handuns DO NOT "just go off". It takes some type of physical effort to actuate the firing mechanism. Not to mention that most handguns have some sort of feature that acts as a safety.

[Almtnman]

One of my friends told me that handguns are the most dangerous of all guns? Is this true or not? Because he said that they can go off at any moment. I would like to prove him wrong by your answers.
Please reply

Buckshooter

Using your friends reasoning a box of bullets could go off at any second. Ask your friend how many handguns does he/she know of for a proven fact that has went off like that.

[kennisondan]

the statement that the handguns can just go off any instant indicates that the person has been treated and behaves like a leming...
physically impossible.. it has to be cocked first and the trigger has to release the sear.. tell im to determine where he got that load of crap and next time assume that source is treating him like an idiot....
long guns are more deadly by a large margin.
short guns are pointed more easily in an unsafe direction due to the short length.
I do not think a constitutional right is based on an anti gun goverment forcing a test to be passed first.. what about a voluntary incentive to train first...? like the three and four wheeler manufacturers did : a gift certificate of some value given on completion of a voluntary training course... it was $120 bucks and redeemable for brush guards, helmets, racks, etc.
never fall into the trap of agreeing that our anti gunner government can test you before you exercise your rights to keep and bear arms... what if there are not enough classes... retesting and confiscation for failing/anyone ?
you get the picture.
dk
dk

[Mikey]

A firearm (handgun, a rifle or a shotgun) is nothing more than a piece of equipment.  It does not have a life of its own or consciousness.  It is a tool; it must be used or misused.  In and of itself it is not inherently dangerous.  A gun laying on a table is no more dangerous than a piece of firewood on the deck or a brick on the patio.  A gun in a drawer is no more dangerous than a book on a shelf.

The concern that handguns are the most dangerous of all firearms is unfounded and based on fear.  Handguns do not jump off the table by themselves and slay a schoolyard full of hapless children or an invalid grandmother four blocks away.  Handguns (or any other fireams) do not act by themselves.  Being in the vicinity of handguns are inherently less dangerous than driving a car or smoking a cigarette.

Firearms, used defensively by average citizens may have saved more than 3 million lives a year.  The mere presence of a firearm has prevented more.

Firearms are inherently more 'safe' than 'dangerous'.  JMTCW.  Mikey.

[coyotejoe]

It certainly would be much easier to shoot one's self with a handgun than with a long gun and many people who own and handle a pistol don't own any other sort of firearm. Those folks are not shooting enthusiasts and often have no training or knowledge of firearms safety, so I suspect it may be true that more accidents happen with handguns but I wonder if any creditable source actually keeps such statistics or if it just comes from the Brady Bunch.

[dukkillr]

A firearm (handgun, a rifle or a shotgun) is nothing more than a piece of equipment.  It does not have a life of its own or consciousness.  It is a tool; it must be used or misused.  In and of itself it is not inherently dangerous.  A gun laying on a table is no more dangerous than a piece of firewood on the deck or a brick on the patio.  A gun in a drawer is no more dangerous than a book on a shelf.

The concern that handguns are the most dangerous of all firearms is unfounded and based on fear.  Handguns do not jump off the table by themselves and slay a schoolyard full of hapless children or an invalid grandmother four blocks away.  Handguns (or any other fireams) do not act by themselves.  Being in the vicinity of handguns are inherently less dangerous than driving a car or smoking a cigarette.

Firearms, used defensively by average citizens may have saved more than 3 million lives a year.  The mere presence of a firearm has prevented more.

Firearms are inherently more 'safe' than 'dangerous'.  JMTCW.  Mikey.

I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this comes up.  Some people believe that if you express reality you're somehow helping anti-gun advocates.  Reality is that an acetylene torch is more dangerous than a beach ball and  dynamite is more dangerous than a box of tissues.  Each of those things is inanimate but some, by there very nature, have the propensity to turn carelessness or a mistake into a fatality, and some don't.  I accidentally leave a torch on it could burn my building down and kill people, I accidentally leave a beach ball over inflated and my kid might get a bloody nose.  As a kid I taught swim lessons and lifeguarded.  Do you think a 12 foot pool poses the same danger as a plastic baby pool?  Which one would you rather have your kid fall into?  They're both inanimate.  But one is far more likely to result in an injury or death.  Come on, lets be realistic here.  If one assumes the same degree of carelessness, I suspect a handgun is more dangerous than a long gun.  

Guns are unlikely to simply "go off" but the skywalk was unlikely to collapse on the Hyatt too.  Mechanical failures do happen, that's why double and triple safety measures are instilled in safe shooters.  If a gun could never just "go off" there'd be no reason for a safety, and there would be no problem with pointing the gun at someone.  It's the fact that no human, nor any human-built instrument will ever be perfect that makes us all take such precautions.  As a waterfowl guide I was involved in two accidental discharges, as an elk hunter I had the much debated 700 trigger failure.  Any of those three accidents could have been a fatality, but the other safety precautions prevented it.  No one is perfect, and no object is infallible.  

Where does one find that 3 million lives saved per year?  That's one out of every 100 Americans that would be dead every year, but for a gun?  

[williamlayton]

Let's face the reality.
Guns are dangerous----AND, they were designed to be dangerous.
A gun--long/short/rifle/shotgun/pistol--cannot load itself. It cant chamber a bullet. It can't discharge itself.
Do people get killed with guns?? Yes! do people get murdered by guns?? yes! Accidentally?? Yes!
Do people get killed and murdered--die? Yes everyday--every minute.
If you want too drive you have need too learn and practice driving safety--doesn't mean you might not get killed--but the odds are you will drive without being killed.
Dangerous is a strange thought. Life is dangerous--so dangerous that no one gets out alive.
Let's stop with the worry.
I like guns and they are fun too shoot-----doesn't make me a bad person.
Blessings

[Almtnman]

Without doing a Google search, I would suspect that more people are killed in car wrecks than with handguns. I feel safer carrying a handgun in the car with me than I do driving on some roadways. And in all the miles that I have driven which would be too high to count, I have seen more people killed while passing a recent wreck than I have seen with a handgun. And the only reason I saw the handgun kills was when I worked LE and went to the scene, but went to more scenes of deaths due to vehicle accidents.

[MePlat]

Theres something funny about this question but I just can't quite put my finger on it.  It seems like it is loaded or something.
Am I the only one here that feel this way?

[SHOOTALL]

are hand guns dangerous ? yep ! in the same way a chain saw is , the same way a car is , the same way a bath-tub is !
Any machine or object can be dangerous if the person using it is not careful .
So which gun is the most dangerous ? the short answer - the one in the hands of a person who is not careful !
the person who does not know the manual of arms for the gun or the person who does not know the safety rules associated with guns .
Have your friend load a diverse group of guns ( after training ) lay each in a safe place and watch them for say 8 hrs. just to see if any display more unsafe behavior ! As you and I already know none will show any behavior , proving that the gun by it self poses no danger . It is only when the gun is touched by humans that the real danger becomes an issue .
We would have to concede that the handgun , auto loader in particular requires a bit more diligence than a in some cases because of the shorter bbl. . The fact that most carry a handgun because of law or convince is why more accidents happen with them , the same could be said for a certain model car  , it is probably safe to say more fords crash than corvettes . but neither cause a crash with out a human involved !
Your friend needs to stop trying to pass the failures of the human race  - on to tools, machines and objects !
I would venture to guess that the percent vs. number in use of accidents for handguns is no more with hand guns than others if all were reported . a guy carries his handgun every day and uses his rifle 2 weeks a year .
good luck with your friend but if he will not be responsible for his actions you got a hard battle to win !
you know the deal a tree was growing for 50 years , 25 years ago they build a road by it yesterday a guy hits it with his car and blames it on the tree , the car and the way the road was built ! wasn't his fault even if he was lighting a cig. and adjusting the radio ! AT THE SAME TIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SHOOTALL]

meplat no !
that's why i posted what i did !

[Cheesehead]

Dangerous people are dangerous, handguns are inanimate and are not dangerous,, until possessed by a dangerous person.

Cheese

[~Ace~]

A Gun is a Tool... nothing more or less

I can split your skull open with a 16 oz Eastwing hammer

I can do the same at 20 yards with a pistol

The Right Person using the right tool for the right job always carries some inherant risk..

Hammers are Cheaper.. more common, and easier to use.. Therefore Hammers are Far more Dangerous than Handguns

Is your friends last name Brady ?


I don't know the actual numbers on deaths by hanguns in the US each year, but I guarentee Very VERY few were accidents.. And a High % of the folks needed killed anyway, Don't say it like it's a Bad thing.

[Almtnman]

Theres something funny about this question but I just can't quite put my finger on it.  It seems like it is loaded or something.
Am I the only one here that feel this way?

I have felt the same since this topic was posted. I would like to know what buckshooter thinks of his friends idea about handguns since he asked the question and never gave us his opinion on it.

[Glanceblamm]

Theres something funny about this question but I just can't quite put my finger on it.  It seems like it is loaded or something.
Am I the only one here that feel this way?

MePlat
I think that what you are feeling and or smelling is the scent of a Liberal. If their approval is not given, we must be made very afraid of it for the common good of all.
Once cigarettes along with handguns and rifles are stamped out, they will move on to the BigMac. You will be fined by the fat police for purchasing one of these.
It is of no consequence that you were killed while carelessly crossing the street to get this sandwich.

The Term of being Careless does not apply to firearms because they are evil and likely to go off at any time. Most everything else is exempt and falls in the classification of an accident.

[MePlat]

I kinda tippytoed around what I meant so I would not really hack the moderator or Graybeard off but here goes.
On first reading the question the writer said   "Because he said that they can go off at any moment."  Now that would imply that a mechanical device (handgun) has a brain and will of their own with the capability of moving off the safety,  pulling its own trigger  and firing itself.  Now to me anyone with half a brain,   even a person that is totally anti gun,   would know that that would not be true since cops carry handguns and security guards etc..,
How could these guys that carry handguns mostly every day do so without some terrible accidents that may hurt them or the populace they are sworn to "protect"?
I think (and I am probably wrong which wouldn't be the first time in my life but probably today though) that the question was posed just to see how much participation they could get on a stupid question.
Wouldn't be the first time that that has happened. 
Maybe we need to log chain our cars to a big tree to keep them from starting themselves and taking off to who knows where while we have them parked.  Them and that handgun that may be in it may rum off and run over and shoot up the county.  Reckon?

[SHOOTALL]

it is a good opportunity to not bash the liberal , but to expose the lack of value  in their way of thinking !
don't bash them , they may only be misled ! allow them the chance to see the stupidity in their ideas and bow to common sense on their own ! for to force a confrontation will only make then fight harder out of pride and self defense , but if we leave them an out they may be converted to a more knowledgeable  approach to thinking !
as an example i offer ROSIE the poor thing reminds me of a senseless animal trapped in a corner with fight as the only option she has left herself !
 remember just because no one has brought forth a gun that operates with out human help it does not mean they don't exist ! we have not been shown big foot or the missing link yet either !

[Redhawk1]

I kinda tippytoed around what I meant so I would not really hack the moderator or Graybeard off but here goes.
On first reading the question the writer said   "Because he said that they can go off at any moment."  Now that would imply that a mechanical device (handgun) has a brain and will of their own with the capability of moving off the safety,  pulling its own trigger  and firing itself.  Now to me anyone with half a brain,   even a person that is totally anti gun,   would know that that would not be true since cops carry handguns and security guards etc..,
How could these guys that carry handguns mostly every day do so without some terrible accidents that may hurt them or the populace they are sworn to "protect"?
I think (and I am probably wrong which wouldn't be the first time in my life but probably today though) that the question was posed just to see how much participation they could get on a stupid question.
Wouldn't be the first time that that has happened. 
Maybe we need to log chain our cars to a big tree to keep them from starting themselves and taking off to who knows where while we have them parked.  Them and that handgun that may be in it may rum off and run over and shoot up the county.  Reckon?

Well said....

[EdK]

Theres something funny about this question but I just can't quite put my finger on it.  It seems like it is loaded or something.
Am I the only one here that feel this way?

I feel the same way... if it's loaded I keep my finger off 

[44 Man]

I remember a remark credited to an old Texas Ranger.  Seems he was carrying a 1911 'cocked and locked' in the waistband of his jeans.  A young fellow next to him saw the hammer back, motioned towards his gun, and asked him if that wasn't dangerous?  His answer was 'Sonny, It's supposed to be!'  44 Man

[corbanzo]

OK so we all know - always treat any gun as if it's loaded.

But when it comes to handguns, you have to treat them as any gun.  With a semi-auto - most have safeties, and all of them have to be cocked, just like a rilfle.  No difference.


When it comes to revolvers, there isn't a safety.  Some rifles dont have a safety.  The way to keep a revolver on safe is to put it in a holster with a strap behind the hammer.  You can't put a strap on a rifle.  ({Well, with hammered rifles you can with a scabbord...)  But anyways.  You put a bullet in a gun, it has the potential to cause damage.  It depends on the person who holds the gun to make sure that damage doesn't happen.

When you are talking about a societal "danger" they are mostly talking about concealability for criminals.  But if you are talking about just them going off on accident, that had to do with handling and holsters.  Which all guns have to do with.

[jcn59]

Buckshooter needs to find some smarter friends.

Rule 1.   Innate  objects are neither safe nor unsafe. 

Look at all the money spent to make cars safe, yet "they" kill way more people than most anything else.  Go back to Rule 1. 

[canon6]

I have read all of the answers to the question"ARE HANDGUNS DANGEROUS"  there have been some well reasoned answers, but I am afraid I must state flatly"  GOD I HOPE SO "   Doug