1) Media reports rarely cover cases where people use guns defensively. If someone uses a gun defensively and the criminal runs away (as occurs in virtually all defensive gun uses), that is simply not going to be considered newsworthy even if it is reported to the newspaper. If you believe media accounts actually get virtually all the defensive gun uses, you would have to believe that about 85% of the defensive gun uses end in the criminal being killed. No one believes that. It is just that those cases are more newsworthy than cases where the criminal is wounded. Only a few percent of the cases seem to involve cases where no one is harmed.2) There is no standard reporting for police even when they are told about DGUs. There are no reporting forms for police. Police do not report these cases to the FBI. Justifiable homicides are in theory reported by the police to the FBI, but that data for civilians is even worse than it is for the police, and I suspect you have heard how horribly bad the police data is.
media appearance, media bias on guns
The War On Guns: Arming Yourself Against Gun Control Lies
More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press, 3rd ed, 2010)
Straight Shooting: Firearms, Economics and Public Policy
Freedomnomics, see Chapter 4 for a general overview of the economics of crime
Dumbing Down the Courts: How Politics Keeps the Smartest Judges Off the Bench
“Sixty-two percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation’s laws or policies on guns, the highest percentage dissatisfied since 2001.
Based on answers to a follow-up question, those who are dissatisfied with gun laws are much more likely to say they want these laws to be stricter. Overall, 38% of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation’s gun laws and want them made stricter, 15% are dissatisfied and want the laws made less strict, and 9% are dissatisfied but say laws should remain as they are.”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/188219/americans-dissatisfaction-gun-laws-new-high.aspx
Please explain what this comment has to do with this post. Other Gallup polls show a somewhat different relationship.
https://crimeresearch.org/2013/12/polls-consistently-show-that-over-the-last-couple-decades-more-people-are-opposing-more-gun-control/
See also.
https://crimeresearch.org/2014/12/new-pew-survey-shows-that-support-for-gun-ownership-increasing-mirrors-other-surveys-showing-that-people-believe-guns-make-them-safer/