The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
by Gavin De Becker
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gavin De BeckerEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 1997-06
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 334
Publisher: Little Brown & Co
Book Reviews of The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
Book Review: A Book for the Gullible and Fearful.
Summary: 1 Stars
I am a law enforcement officer and have worked the streets in the Southern California area for almost 20 years. I read this book and would NOT recommend it to anyone. I have the 1997 edition and it was given to my by a friend to read and review.
First, the book promotes an anti-gun bias and the author wastes no time in alleged gun violence statistics he provides but interestingly never cites his sources to support them. Here's an example, "In the last two years alone, more Americans died from gunshot wounds than were killed during the entire Vietnam War."
De Becker never cited which last two years so I assumed it was the years 1995 and 1996. Per Wikipedia, 58,209 brave American soldiers were killed in the Vietnam War, 153,303 wounded and 1,948 missing. I checked FBI crime statistics under the combined category of murder/non-negligent manslaughter rates for the years of 1995 and 1996. In 1995, there were 21,665 murders and in 1996 there were 19,645 murders for a total of 41,310 well short of 58,209 soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
He further compares United States crime rate to Japan's crime rate. A nation of over 260 million (1995 statistics) versus a nation of 126 million(1995 statistics)is not a fair comparison. Is Japan a safe country? Not really, as you are more likely to commit suicide in Japan. Japan's murder rate average 0.9 per 100,000, but its suicide rate is 20.3, for a combined rate of 21.1 per 100,000. The U.S. murder rate average 7.4 per 100,000, and the suicide rate is 12.0, for a combined total of 19.4 per 100,000. Thus, the combined murder and suicide rates in Japan and the U.S. are nearly equal even though firearms are virtually non-existent in Japan.
He then claims, "By this time tomorrow, 400 more Americans will suffer a shooting injury and another 1,100 will face a criminal with a gun as Kelly did. Within the hour, another 75 women will be raped as Kelly was."
I tried finding statistics for the above quote but could not find any data that supported his claim. What I did find was that Prof. Gary Kleck from the School of Criminology, Florida State University, discovered Americans use firearms to prevent crimes approximately 1 to 1.5 million times per year. These are the very cases De Becker ignored. Had De Becker considered these facts, he would have had to conclude a firearm in the home makes a family and a person safer.
Prof. Kleck also discovered that robbery victims who defended themselves with a gun suffered lower rates of injury than did those who resisted without a gun, or even those who did not resist at all and instead complied with the violent criminal's demands. In short, Prof. Kleck concluded the private ownership of firearms deters criminal behavior. (Source: "Crime Control Through the Private Use of Armed Force" by Gary Kleck
Here's another fabulous claim by De Becker." In (sad) fact, if a full jumbo jet crashed into a mountain killing everyone on board and that happened every month, month in and month out, the number of people killed still wouldn't equal the number of women murdered by their husbands and boyfriends each year.
Per Wikipedia, the Boeing 747 is commonly nicknamed the "Jumbo Jet and depending on layout can hold between 417 and 524 passengers. I did not include the flight crew. Let us do some math. 417 x 12=5004 and 524 x12=6288. Now according to De Becker 417 to 524 plus women are murdered each month by their intimates.
In 1996, approximately 1,800 murders in the US were attributed to intimates; nearly three out of four of these (1,326) had a female victim the rest were male victims! (Bureau of Justice Statistics) Now 1326 divided in 12 is 110.5. Not the 417 to 524 plus murders De Becker claims to occur monthly.
De Becker is alleged to be a security expert but I could not find anything on his training and experience as a 'security expert." What makes him a security expert? I found his bio on the Internet and it cites his awards but nothing on his background, training or expertise. I could only find that he now resides in Fiji with seven adopted children. I guess he's so scared that he left the United States. I would like to know how many hardened criminals the author has arrested,confronted or fought in his lifetime.
I was very disappointed that a highly regarded author and "security expert" distorted facts and failed miserably in citing any sources for his alleged facts in his book. What else did he distort in his book? He sets the reader up(especially women) to be in fear then offers his solution to the reader to rely on your "gift of fear" or your inner self or gut feelings. This book provides the reader with a false sense of security. If you want to protect yourself you better learn how to fight with and without a weapon.
In my opinion, this book is for the gullible and the fearful. It provides the reader with no alternative but to rely on the alleged gift of fear or intuition to protect you. Fear is not a gift and will get you killed. If you are in a state of fear, your body will shutdown and you will not be able to fight back. You should always know your surroundings and rely on common sense. You should also train your body and mind for physical combat. Seek out experts in firearms instruction and in the combat arts. Always fight back and never give up! Which martial art should you study? For the beginner, I would suggest the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga as it provides the student with a combat mindset.
Here's a true life story. In the early 1990's, I took a criminal report for a young female school teacher in which her former boyfriend threatened to kill her. She had obtained a restraining order against him but it did little to stop his ongoing verbal threats. Her boyfriend was arrested several times but was released within a few hours. This kept him away for a time but did not stop the verbal threats. She was very concerned that he was going to kill her and that nothing was going to stop him. She lived alone in a rural area and asked me if she should buy a handgun. I told her yes but only if she obtained firearms training. I introduced her to a fellow officer that worked weekends as a certified firearms instructor at a private range. She immediately received firearms training that weekend from that officer, purchased a handgun, and became very proficient with her handgun (women tend to be excellent shooters). About two months later, her boyfriend was back at her home armed with a knife, she grabbed her 9mm handgun and escaped through the rear door of her home. He broke into her home and went after her. He was about 50 yards away threatening to kill her when she took a defensive posture, pointed her handgun at him and told him to stop. He refused and ran towards her with the knife in his hand. In self defense, she fired about four shots at him and killed him. This was an unfortunate incident that the young lady had to go through but she used common sense and training to protect herself. She was not arrested and the local prosecutor determined that she acted in self-defense. She trained her body and mind for combat and it saved her life. I am glad that I had a very small part in saving that young lady's life. Remember: The Gift of FEAR=False Evidence Appears Real.
For those of us that believe in the Almighty God, here's a scripture to remember. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.) 2 Timothy 1:7
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