Contrary to what some would have you believe, defensive gun uses happen literally every single day. Over a million annually, preventing assaults, robberies, rapes and murders. Besides other stories we’ve already reported, here are three more DGUs that barely made the news, further discrediting the myth that guns don’t make a home safer.

One happened early yesterday in Knoxville, Tennessee. Just before 1:30 a.m., a suspect allegedly broke into a home and was subsequently shot. This is a developing story, and more details will be released soon.

On Tuesday in Pineville, North Carolina, a 29-year-old man named Donald Lee Blakney was shot and killed. The resident of an apartment in the area woke up to strange sounds, went outside, and was met by Blakney, who was in the process of breaking into the home. The two men had a confrontation in which the apartment resident fired several shots, which caused his neighbors to call the police. Police believe this was a justified self-defense homicide.

Over this past weekend in Colorado Springs, 30-year-old Houston Malachai Cookson was also shot and killed after being caught breaking into a home. The homeowner got his gun and defended himself and his property while his wife called 9-1-1.

These and other defensive gun use stories are only a small representative portion of those defensive gun uses that make the news. In the great majority of cases, guns are never fired, but are still an indispensable part of the equation, balancing the power of criminals and innocent victims.

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39 COMMENTS

  3. B-I-L says all this DGU stuff is a load of crap because:
    – none ever reported in his local paper, or news outlets
    – CDC and Lott are making it up because all those DGUs are not reported
    – if all those DGUs were real (up to 2 million), we would see stories in the news every day, everywhere
    – CDC is just plain wrong on this, but accurate on everything else about health and safety
    – DGUs, if true, are proof guns should be banned because stupid people rely on guns to keep them safe rather than running away, calling cops, or practicing good safety habits (like locking doors and windows)
    – it just plain doesn’t matter because guns are just bad things in life, needing to be eliminated

    • Well, Sam, I’m sure you’ve likely told him these thing but I’ll take a swing at it.

      #1“– none ever reported in his local paper, or news outlets”

      The website concealednation.com post news stories of DGUs from around the USA and a few from around the world.The website links to the news station that reported the story(s). None are ever reported, I don’t think so.

      #2 “– CDC and Lott are making it up because all those DGUs are not reported”

      If a DGU just involves a firearm being drawn from a holster/shown and then no one says anything that would be true, not not all are reported. But DGUs are reported, investigated and determined to be true, to have happened.

      #3 “– if all those DGUs were real (up to 2 million), we would see stories in the news every day, everywhere”

      Does the national news cover every car crash that happens? No. Start looking at other local stations for stories. See #1.

      #4 “– CDC is just plain wrong on this, but accurate on everything else about health and safety”

      Now you’re just being a hypocrite and showing a personal bias.

      #5 “– DGUs, if true, are proof guns should be banned because stupid people rely on guns to keep them safe rather than running away, calling cops, or practicing good safety habits (like locking doors and windows)”

      You can do everything right, locking doors and windows, and have violent person break-in to your locked house. Now if you want to wait for the police to show up, feel free to do that. But in one minute that person can harm you and/or escape before the police get there. (So much for getting crime off the streets) And not everyone has the option or ability to run. See #1.

      #6 “– it just plain doesn’t matter because guns are just bad things in life, needing to be eliminated”

      I want to respond to this, but I need more then this to keep from name calling.

      • “Well, Sam, I’m sure you’ve likely told him these thing but I’ll take a swing at it.”

        Thanks for the effort.

        Have to be careful with BIL. He is too easy to wind up. Nowadays, mostly save triggering him for people who have never met him (doesn’t matter if the new person is pro or anti gun, the entertainment value remains the same). At family events, I am not allowed to “start something”. However, if we first meet (see each other) across the room, or the yard, i form a pistol with my fingers, point it, then blow away the smoke from the barrel. The rest of the time, I just smile and nod. Hoping all that keeps his teeth on edge waiting for me to skewer him about guns at some point.

        • Sounds like it could be a powder keg moment. Bring him to western MT so the powder keg can blow and not harm anyone and I can watch.

          • “Sounds like it could be a powder keg moment. Bring him to western MT so the powder keg can blow and not harm anyone and I can watch.”

            Well that, and he’s a Detroit Lions fan.

    • I have a B-I-L like Sam’s. Also a Know-it-all and rude. Bragged about arguing with his boss about gun control. ” What a dumbshit !!!” came to my mind. Guess who got laid off about three months later and he was too stupid to figure it out.

      • “Guess who got laid off about three months later and he was too stupid to figure it out.”

        My BIL would know immediately – owns his business.

        • If he’s got a storefront get him one of those “Guns are icky and I don’t want your money” signs.

          • “If he’s got a storefront get him one of those “Guns are icky and I don’t want your money” signs.”

            What a great idea for Christmas !!

    • The weather happens everyday but its news. Murders and robberies happen everyday and still make the news. Regular occurrence does not equate to news worthiness, and what is considered newsworthy varies by region, who’s reporting, and who’s listening. My point is, what you said is irrelevant, if not dumb.

    • Or perhaps most people don’t report them immediately without a guarantee of anonymity due to brandishing laws or their own legal status.

  5. DGU’s are not welcome news for towns and cities which are more concerned with their image of a friendly and safe place in order to attract businesses and tourists. The local media outlets know this and therefore tend to bury such events. If it’s a high profile shooting it will be spun to favor the image – “praised the quick (10min) response time of the police” for example.

  6. I live in Colorado Springs! They tried to make this HD look like murder. So sad. Thank you for reporting on this!

    • I’m also in the Springs, I’m just not seeing this. I’ll look deeper. If you ever at King Soopers on Austin Bluffs, say Hi.

      • Hi. I hit Austin Bluffs and Academy every couple of weeks. Not hit like the van that went through the dispensory door when the crooks made off with oregano instead.

        • Right on. Well, I’m that Jon in there. Don’t be strangers! I’d like to meet some people into the same things I am.

    • Thank you for the link…shame on me for laughing my butt off when I read your comment and the follow-up link…

      Ladies and gentlemen, we have our Darwin winner…Mr. Blakney (deceased) “capped” off a truly crappy start to his work week…his Tuesday was shot to hell by really bad decisions on his part.

      • Forgive me for not finding any humor in this, but my son’s life did matter to me and a lot of other people especially his son. Yes he made a terrible mistake that morning however it did not happen the way the media is portraying the incident according to the young man that shot and killed my son. I hope you rest well at night, I don’t. Learn the facts before you pass judgement.

        A grieving mother

  9. If there are a million DGU’s every year, then, statistically, one of the 300 comments to this will report that they know someone who averted a hospitalization or death this year using a gun, either by showing it or using it sometime within the last 12 months.

    Ready go.

    • If there are a million DGU’s every year, then, statistically, one of the 300 comments to this will report that they know someone who averted a hospitalization or death this year using a gun, either by showing it or using it sometime within the last 12 months.

      The peer reviewed work shows to to three million DGU per year, not merely one million.

      There are about 200 million gun owners.

      and you fail stats 101, what is it that makes you think all would be reported here?

  10. If a gangster shoots another gangster doing his gangsta thing, is that considered a DGU?

    • It depends. Where I live, most of the shootings are the Bloods and the Crips doing drive bys on each other. They wouldn’t qualify. Several years ago, one gang member went after a rival and the rival won the gunfight. The county attorney (i.e. prosecutor) grudgingly ruled it a DGU.

      • Colonel Jeff Cooper… gunwriter, Gunsite, firearms enthusiast, co-developer I believe of the first 10mm pistol – the Bren 10… called shooting deaths between fighting gang members “The Good Riddance Factor” and absolutely should not be included in CDC or FBI numbers as innocent or tragic deaths. A real problem is that CDC, I believe and please correct me, counts “children” as kids up to 18 or even more. There are an awful lot of 15-18 gang punk out there playing “knock out”, carrying guns while committing crimes and using and dealing drugs. Their deaths should not be able to be used to up the numbers “of tragic and senseless” gun deaths because they are neither.
        I help kids get off of heroin and many of them don’t have any criminal convictions yet. I urge them to get away after getting clean and let the military have their lives for a couple of years. It’s a great job and something you can tell your friends and family and gang types that want you to stay right where you are and likely to fall back into problems.

    • Kind of like, if a trees falls in a forest and no one is there to here it, does it make a sound?

      Is it a crime if a criminal attacks another criminal in the middle of a criminal event?

  11. THE MAJOR PROBLEM in d.g.u. is one has to find the article in the news. in seattle, i hear SHOTS FIRED,sometimes three or for times a night,,next day NOTHING. ON THE SO CALLED NEWS. must not make the city seem dangerous.. ..we hear about denver,chicago,sanfranshitsco. anywhere but seattle.

  13. @BD:
    1) Wife – at house with kid, two guys pull up in a truck w trailer and a ladder. One goes to front door, other runs around back. The dog sets off one #1, but #2 saw the Cz-75 through the sliding glass door and they both bolted.
    2) Friend walking his husky in an open well-attended park; had a guy follow him. He turns around, dog goes nuts , and the follower RUSHES him w/o a word … until the .357 came to bear.
    3?) moved into a new house, stayed the first night with my younger brother for a night of pizza and Smash Bros. I go to open a window and see someone snooping around the back. I crack the window, launch a question, and bring the pellet gun to bear. (beats retreat)

    • Mr Coffeeman,
      Ding Ding.

      So I bet NONE of those three incidents made the newspapers anywhere nor in any official statistics?

      Hmmmm. So that’s three in roughly 25 unique comments. If we get NO more DGU reports of DGU’s this year AND we get 875 more comments, that would be 1 in 300, which is roughly 1million DGU’s per 300 million people in the US.

      If we get NO more comments, then our unofficial, (solicited, biased and slanted), poll scales up to 12 in 100, or 36 million DGUs in 300 million people.

      John Lott I am not. But it does seem that in any moderate sized group of gun folks there is at least one who’s had a family member, neighbor, or friend with an unreported DGU in the past year. I rarely have to widen the circle to 300 people to find one incident in the most recent year.

  14. Wonder when the socialists are going to try to protect these thugs under the endangered species act ?

  15. What’s the source of today’s items? Clearly not the CDC; those three were all last week. They sit on DGU stats for what, a decade or two? Let tbe info age like a fine wine. Or is that “rot.”

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