Report Highlights: There are approximately 112 million gun owners in America. Of those, tens of thousands use firearms for self-defense every year.
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Studies consistently average 1,820,000 defensive gun uses per year compared to 1,100,000 reported violent crimes.
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62.7 million American civilians carry handguns outside of their homes for self-defense.
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Civilians are 4.8 times more likely to use a gun for self-defense than to be murdered by one.
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Related Studies: How Many Gun Owners are in America? | Guns in the Home Statistics | Why Do Americans Own Guns?
How Often Are Guns Used in Self-Defense?
A March 2025 study indicates that there are 489,000 defensive gun use incidents annually. However, studies consistently show between 60,000 and 2,500,000 DGU uses per year. The average yearly reported number of self-defense cases between 1990 and 2023 is 1,820,000 annually.
The number of defensive gun uses (DGUs) is hotly contested and widely debated because the definitions and data collection methods vary.
Some DGU surveys are broader, asking questions, such as, “Have you ever retrieved a firearm because you perceived a threat?” Others ask more specific questions, such as, “Have you ever retrieved a firearm because you saw an active threat or home intruder?”
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There are an estimated 112,000,000 firearm owners in the U.S. According to the higher estimates, 3% use them for self-defense annually.
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At a minimum, 2.3% of all firearm-related homicides in 2018 were justifiable homicides. Estimates only include agencies that report justifiable homicides to the FBI, whereas many either don’t report or do not classify homicides accordingly.
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29% of Americans report being victims of crimes, but only 42% of Americans report violent crimes to law enforcement.
States’ Self-Defense Laws, Permitless Carry, and DGUs
Indiana passed Stand Your Ground laws in 2006 and permitless carry legislation in 2022. In January of 2024, 14 of 18 homicide investigations involved self-defense. From a domestic violence incident to a home break-in, over three-fourths of all deaths in Indianapolis that month involved some type of self-defense claim.
Despite a 2022 study stating that Stand Your Ground legislation leads to more homicides, a five-year average of homicides by state does not support this hypothesis. In fact, national homicide rates increased between 2020 and 2022. Furthermore, states with permitless carry legislation and SYG legislation have the same average homicide rate as those that don’t.
The CDC Wonder does not differentiate between self-defense shootings and homicides. However, the evidence is clear: States with strong self-defense laws do not have higher homicide rates than those restricting the right of civilians to defend themselves.
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