Defensive Gun Use Statistics: Self-Defense Cases (2025)

Report Highlights: There are approximately 112 million gun owners in America. Of those, tens of thousands use firearms for self-defense every year.

• Studies consistently average 1,820,000 defensive gun uses per year compared to 1,100,000 reported violent crimes.
• 62.7 million American civilians carry handguns outside of their homes for self-defense.
• 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?”

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

States’ Violent Crime Rates and No Duty to Retreat (Stand Your Ground Laws)

A 2021 study shows that states embracing civilians’ rights to self-defense had little to no impact on violent crime rates. However, 75% of states that passed SYG (Stand Your Ground) laws with no duty to retreat experienced a decline in violent crime victimizations in the following years.

The Self-Defense Statistics Debate Explained

Researchers and data analysts have long disputed the accuracy of self-defense surveys.

Although the CDC did release a comprehensive study citing 60,000-2,500,000 defensive use cases each year, the government agency quickly withdrew its findings. Self-defense is subjective and, therefore, challenging to identify. Thus, we must understand the debate before accurately assessing how many defensive gun uses are possible.

Variations in Reporting

Although we can’t say exactly how many DGUs occur each year, we can deduce whether they are common or not based on the information that we do have. Various surveys from the early 1990s to 2023 gave us the 60,000-2,500,000 use case estimate.

Defensive gun use has no singular definition. Some researchers refer to the individual’s feelings about the situation. Others assess only those actively involved in violent crimes. Therefore, it’s crucial to get a full view of DGU reports.

The Gun Violence Archives pulls information from 7,000 news publications. Only newspaper articles in which a person used a firearm defensively are included in the 3,165 DGUs between 2014 and 2023. This excludes incidents where a shot is never fired (a firearm is a deterrent) and those where the defender is charged with a crime related to the incident.

Read the full breakdown: Defensive Gun Use Statistics: Self-Defense Cases (2025)