The Samurai (Online Version)

(History 399 / EALC 431) Fall 2018

Instructor:
Professor Rath Consultation Hours*
erath@ku.edu M 4-5 & W 1:30-3:30
and by appointment

Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA)

Mr. Funabashi Office Hours:
Office: 2016 Wescoe M & W 9:00-10:30
(and by appointment)

Warning: This online course is an intensive version of the regular (online) class, requiring active
involvement every day including completing reading assignments and online lectures,
discussions, and quizzes. You should expect at least 10 hours of course work each week as
expected when a 16-week course becomes an 8 week one.

Course Description
Japan’s warrior class, the samurai, dominated politics and society for more than half of recorded history.
This course traces the history of the samurai from their origins to the dissolution of their class in 1877, examining
their military role, philosophy, and cultural contributions. It also considers continued references to the “spirit of the
samurai” today and other modern myths about them. By taking this course, students will gain an understanding of
the contributions of the samurai to Japanese history and familiarity with the methods historians use to study them.
Though background in the topic will be helpful, this course does not require prior knowledge about Japan or Asia.

Course Goals and Expected Outcomes

1. To understand the history of the samurai in the context of Japanese history, specifically their military role,
contributions to politics, society, and culture, and the larger historical trends that affected them.
2. To be able to identify famous samurai and other historical figures important to samurai history.
3. To gain an introduction to the approaches and sources historians use to study the samurai.
4. To make improvements in academic writing.

KU Core
• For its introduction to historical methods, the course meets Goal 1.1
• As a course on Japanese history, the class also meets Goal 4.2

Course Website
The course is taught on Blackboard, but the instructor has also created a course website:
http://samurai399.wordpress.com dedicated to the humorous side of the samurai and their place in modern culture.
All materials on these websites are copyrighted and restricted to students enrolled in the course.

This Syllabus is a Learning Contract

By remaining enrolled in this course, students acknowledge that they have read and understand this
syllabus (“learning contract”), and agree to adhere to its terms. While this syllabus might seem too formal and long,
it represents the instructor’s attempt to communicate his expectations of students enrolled in this course to facilitate
their learning experience and enable them to succeed in the class. Students can expect the instructor to apply the
terms of this contract in managing this course.

*
With guns allowed on campus, I no longer feel safe having visitors in my office; so instead of in person office
hours, I am available for consultation via email or Skype on the hours indicated above and by appointment. Should
you wish to meet in person, the appointment will be at a secure or public location of my choosing, but not my office.
Please read the statement about concealed weapons at the end of the syllabus.

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I. EXPECTATIONS
How hard is this course? Article 5, Section 1.1 of the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations stipulates that
students spend at least two hours of outside study and preparation for every hour of class time in a 16 week class. In
an eight-week course this means you should expect to study at least 10 hours a week. However, doing the minimal
amount of work does not guarantee a high grade in this class. One reason for this misconception is the problem of
grade inflation, which gives the false impression that minimal student effort should yield satisfactory or exemplary
results. KU has been better than other universities at combating this problem, but grade inflation is still a problem
here (see Gradeinflation.com). The instructor does not grade on a curve, and he would be happy to see all of the
students earn As, but that has not happened yet. Even earning a C in this course requires effort. Moreover, since
this is an East Asian history course, it will require an additional investment of time and energy to learn new names
and terms depending on your previous knowledge of Japan. Students without prior background in Japanese history
or culture should read the assigned texts closely, take notes on these, and contact the instructor if they have any
questions about the course material. Taking a passive attitude toward learning will yield poor results.
The instructor expects that all students maintain an open and mature outlook toward the material studied and the
contributions of other people in the class. In online communications such as the course discussions, students must
conduct themselves in a manner conducive for creating an environment suitable for learning. Students can expect to
be able to meet with the instructor during his office hours or at a mutually agreed upon time and to have his
assistance in meeting the goals for the course.
Communication between students and the instructor is the basis for learning and it is essential for the
success of this and any class. The instructor will do his best to specify his expectations, but students must also
communicate with the instructor. It is the student’s responsibility to ask if they have any questions or concerns
about the course. The writing assignments are usually open-ended to allow students to formulate their own
responses. Please consult the instructor or GTA if you have any questions about these. When emailing the
instructor and GTA, be aware that their spam filters might treat messages that begins with “hey,” “sup?,” or similar
casual salutations as junk mail. If you expect a response, please use proper English and forms of address as you
would in a business setting.
Students should promptly inform the instructor privately if there are any issues that may affect their
performance in this class. It is especially important for students to contact the instructor early if they have a physical
challenge, a special need, or if a personal crisis arises that will affect their class work. According to university
policy, accommodations for disabilities require documentation from the Office of Student Access Services. If you
are eligible for their services, please contact them early in the semester in their office located in 22 Strong Hall or by
phone: 785-864-4064 or 785-864-2620 (V/TTY). For information about their resources, see http://access.ku.edu.
The instructor will provide accommodations, but he needs to be informed in a timely manner of any required.

The Role of the Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the Course

The GTA will apply the criteria for grading devised by the instructor in evaluating the assignments.
Students who have questions about the course material may consult with the instructor or GTA. Students with
questions about the GTA’s comments on assignments need to discuss these with the GTA first before meeting with
the instructor.

II. ACADEMIC CONDUCT

Plagiarism -- copying someone else’s exact words or ideas without citation -- is unethical, illegal, and
prohibited. Evidence of plagiarism, such as turning in a paper similar to one handed in by another student in this
course, will result in a failing grade for the class and academic sanctions according to university policies. Since
this is an upper level history course, there is only one penalty for plagiarism – a failing course grade and a possible
notation on your transcript that will make it much more difficult for you to enter graduate school or your chosen
profession. The instructor and GTA are glad to assist students to make sure that they cite all their sources properly,
however it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that their work is the result of their own independent effort.
Students who plan to download their papers from the internet are advised to drop out of college and obtain their
degrees from the same source. All papers will be submitted electronically through Blackboard so that they can be
scanned for plagiarism using Safe Assign. Safe Assign automatically measures submitted papers against its
database of papers turned in at KU and other institutions and materials available on websites to determine potential
plagiarism.
The instructor expects students to adhere to KU’s code of academic conduct, which can be found at
http://www.writing.ku.edu/academic-misconduct

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III. ONLINE CONTENT
The course materials, including the lectures on Blackboard, are for the exclusive use of students enrolled in
the course, and students are prohibited from making commercial use of these materials. The online content can be
viewed through computers and through the free Blackboard phone app – the latter unfortunately does not support the
online quizzes (CRQs).

Online Lectures on Blackboard

There are several online lectures for you to read each week. The lectures contain short non-credit quizzes
that allow you to test your mastery of the material. The online lectures appear on Blackboard on Monday morning
at 8:00 AM during the week they are assigned and they remain available for review throughout the semester.† Open
the lecture folder and click the yellow box to open the lecture.

Cumulative Review Quizzes (CRQs)

The Cumulative Review Quizzes (CRQs) are weekly quizzes on course material up to and including the
online lectures presented that week. The Cumulative Review Quizzes are available on Blackboard from Monday
8:00 AM to Sunday 11:00 PM each week, except for the last week of class when they are due at 11:00 PM Friday
10/12. Students can take the quizzes multiple times during the week until earning a passing grade of 90% (18 out of
20 points) on the quiz. The aim of the quizzes is to assist students in mastering the course material on a weekly
basis. Only one of the ten quizzes is available per week.
To take the CRQ, students must first pass the Course Overview Quiz. The Course Overview Quiz covers
course policies described on this syllabus. Students can retake the quiz multiple times until they pass. A 100%
score is needed.

Online Discussion
Discussion forums are available from Monday 8:00 AM to Sunday 11:00 PM each week. Students can
earn between 0-4 points each week based on their posts and replies to what other students have written. (The
weekly score applies to the grades for online assignments as described below). Discussion contributions are graded
for quality and level of participation as follows:

Quality of Post:
0 points: short post before forum closes; no evidence used
1 point: thoughtful response to the topic referencing the week’s work
2 points: reference to the course material and readings by page number

Participation:
0 points: disparaging remarks about other posts or participants; rants.
1 point: replying to one other post thoughtfully
2 points: substantive replies to at least two points and continued involvement in the discussion

Extra Credit:
Posts before Wednesday will earn one point extra credit. Students can earn additional points for their posts
or replies at discretion of the instructor or GTA.

Deductions
The aim of the online discussion is to facilitate a conversation during the week and that is not possible if
students posts at the last minute. Consequently, students who wait until Sunday at 8:00 PM for their first post to the
discussion will suffer a 1 point deduction to their work.

The letter grades for Discussions I and II are derived from the points earned in the weekly online discussions (4
discussions worth 4 points each for a possible total of 16 points): A = 14 points; B = 12 points; C = 10 points; D =
8 points.

†
All times on the syllabus and website are Central Standard Time.

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A Note on the Periodization of Prehistoric Periods
The arrival of agriculture marks the transition from the prehistoric Jōmon period to the Yayoi era, and new
archaeological discoveries are causing scholars to change their understanding of these ages. The Hane and Perez
text Premodern Japan dates the shift from Jōmon to Yayoi to around 250 BCE, but most scholars of Japan today
postulate that the Yayoi began much earlier, sometime between the second and first millennia BCE. For clarity, the
lectures in this course roughly follow the dates in Premodern Japan. For the purposes of this course what is most
important to know are the characteristics of these two eras and which came first.

V. HOW GRADES ARE CALCULATED

The course grade is a combination of the grade earned on writing assignments and completion of the
minimum standards for the cumulative review quizzes (CRQs). For example, to earn a B in the class, a student must
earn a grade of at least B on the assignments and fulfill the minimum standards to earn a B for the CRQs.

Assignments (deadlines and percentage of course grade)

Map Quiz (due 8/26) 5%

Short Writing Assignment (due 9/2) 10%
Paper 1 (due 9/16) 15%
First Discussion Grade (first half of course): 10%
Midterm Review Essay (9/23) 15%
Paper 2 (due 10/7) 20%
Final Review Essay (due on noon Friday 10/12) 15%
Second Discussion Grade (second half of course): 10%

Final grades for the course have these minimum requirements:

A = passing 9 Cumulative Review Quizzes

B = passing 8 Cumulative Review Quizzes
C = passing 7 Cumulative Review Quizzes
D = passing 6 Cumulative Review Quizzes

Grades for the assignments will be posted on Blackboard along with the current course grade, but the final course
grade will only be available on Enroll and Pay.

Map Quiz (8/26)

You will need to be able to locate the following places on a map of Japan: four main islands, Kantō region,
Kansai region, Kyoto, Nara, Kamakura, Edo (Tokyo), Osaka, Kamakura, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, Sea of Japan,
Inland Sea, and Lake Biwa. Passing requires answering all 15 questions correctly. You can take the quiz as many
times as you like from until 11:00 PM on 8/26.

The Different Types of Papers

The writing assignments vary in length and focus. The short writing assignment and papers are analyses of
primary sources. The Midterm Review Essay and Final Review Essay require responding to questions covering the
online lectures and the text Premodern Japan. The instructor and GTA can provide general guidance about the
midterm and final but they cannot review draft essays of these two assignments.

General Directions for the Writing Assignments

The papers are based on the readings and do not entail additional sources or outside research. The papers
require that you examine primary sources from a historical perspective. Your analysis should focus on what these
texts reveal about the samurai: their daily life, beliefs, customs, and how they viewed themselves as warriors.
Papers must be submitted through Blackboard by the assignment deadline. Papers must be typed. Faxed or
emailed papers will not be accepted. See the Writing Check List for further information about style. In fairness to
students who turn their assignments in on time, anyone failing to turn in the paper without a legitimate prior excuse

4
(i.e., dire personal or family crises) will be penalized one letter grade per day that the paper is late including
weekends.
The instructor and GTA can meet with you to answer questions about the paper assignments, discuss
outlines, drafts and comments on graded papers. They can answer questions by email 48 hours before an
assignment is due. They also encourage you to visit the writing centers on campus and to have a friend read your
paper before you turn it in. Writing usually takes longer than one might expect. Taking shortcuts actually adds time
and leads to weaker results. Take notes as you read. Write a detailed outline. Spend time revising.

How the Papers Will be Graded

The purpose of the paper assignments is to focus your study and interpretation of primary texts. Papers
cannot simply recapitulate the lectures or summarize the readings, and the instructor is not looking for the “right
answers.” He is more interested in how students interpret the texts. All papers are different, but in general there are
three levels of quality that determine the grade earned.
A mediocre response lacks a coherent thesis statement, does not address the topic in full, does not utilize all
of the required texts, and does not engage the texts seriously. It might parrot the lectures or make sweeping
statements based upon limited information such as drawing broad contrasts between Japanese and American culture,
or simply string together a series of long quotes without much explanation. This sort of response defeats the
purpose of the assignment. The reader’s sense is that the respondent simply wants to hand something in and that
most of their creative energies are exhibited in their awkward spacing and font choice to meet the page
requirements, which are not that rigid. These responses earn a C or below.
A middle-level response does evaluate all of the texts, presents a response to the assignment in a thesis
statement, and meets the basic requirements for the assignment, but it does so in a perfunctory and formulaic way.
Typically, the respondent has their mind made up about the “right answers,” and they just fish in the texts for
enough “evidence” to support their preconceived views, which usually differ little from the ideas presented in class.
The author either tries to make the evidence carry too much weight and they over generalize, or they fail to show
adequately how cited passages support their argument, which may not be fully articulated in the thesis. These
papers tend to summarize texts instead of analyzing them and have weak thesis statements. Papers in this category
usually earn a grade between a C+ to B.
A superior response offers a sense of genuine discovery in the materials and the respondent provides a clear
framework for these observations beginning with the thesis statement. The response conveys that the student has
read through the materials and has thought about them. The student understands that anything within the texts might
become “evidence,” but the student turns a citation into evidence by interpreting the cited passage to illustrate the
argument introduced in a clear thesis statement. These responses earn between a B+ and A.
Generally, the quality of the paper depends on the amount of time put into the assignment. (Writing takes
effort). If a student does the readings according to the class schedule, takes notes, allows sufficient time to write the
assignment, and consults the instructor or GTA if any clarification is needed, then a superior response is within the
grasp of any KU student.
In writing your papers follow Japanese custom and write a person’s family name first and use family
names, rather than personal names. Thus: Katsu, Yamamoto, etc. Like most Japanese words, samurai can be
singular or plural. Avoid “samurais.”

Additional Notes about Grades

• No incompletes will be granted.
• The instructor reserves the right to change the grading structure and course content.

VI. READING ASSIGNMENTS

Begin reading the texts anytime but complete them by the deadline they are assigned. The instructor
recommends that you take notes as you read since this will help you master the material and prepare for the papers.

VII. REQUIRED TEXTS

Purchase all of the books listed below. Books sell out quickly, and unsold books are returned by the
bookstores early in the semester. So, buy all the books as soon as possible. It is your responsibility to order any
books that become unavailable. The instructor or GTA do not have any extra copies to lend.

Mikiso Hane and Lou Perez. Premodern Japan: A Historical Survey. Second edition. Westview Press, 2014.

5
Watson and Shirane, trans. The Tales of the Heike. Columbia University Press, 2006.

Katsu Kokichi. Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai. Trans. Teruko Craig.
University of Arizona Press, 1991.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo. Hagakure, trans. William S. Wilson. Boston: Shambhala, 2012.

William Wilson, trans. Hogen Monogatari. Cornell East Asia Series, 2001.

VIII. ACADEMIC ADVISING

Academic advising and planning can help students learn how to successfully and purposefully navigate the
opportunities available to them throughout their time as a Jayhawk. If you need help with scheduling
(add/drop/withdraw) or have questions regarding major/minor requirements, contact your advisor. To schedule an
appointment with the History Department’s academic advisor, call 785-864-3500.

VI. COURSE CALENDAR

Complete the assignments in the order that they appear.

I. Myths of the Samurai (8/20-8/26)

1. Review the syllabus and familiarize yourself with the course Blackboard site
2. Take and pass the Course Overview Quiz
3. Participate in the group discussion
4. Read the “Introduction” in the text Premodern Japan
5. Read the online lecture “The Samurai in History”
6. Take the Map Quiz
7. Read chapter 1 in the text Premodern Japan.
8. Read the online lecture, “Warfare and Warriors in Prehistoric Japan”
9. Read chapter 2 in the text, Premodern Japan

II. The Rise of a Fighting Class (8/27-9/2)

1. Read the online lecture “A Continental Army for Japan”
2. Take Cumulative Review Quiz (CRQ) 1
3. Read chapter 3 in the text Premodern Japan
4. Read the online lecture, “Strong Fellows”
5. Participate in the group discussion
6. Read the online lecture, “Warriors and the Estate System”
7. Read William R. Wilson, “The Way of the Bow and Arrow: The
Japanese Warrior in the Konjaku Monogatari,” Monumenta Nipponica 28:1-4 (1973):
177-233. Available on Blackboard.
8. Short Writing Assignment (3 pages): follow the guidelines on Blackboard

III. Warriors and the Imperial Government (9/3-9/9)

1. Take Cumulative Review Quiz 2
2. Read the online lecture, “Rise of the Taira Clan”
3. Participate in the discussion
5. Read The Tale of Hogen (you can skip the translator’s introduction and end matter)
6. Read the online lecture, “The Genpei Wars”
7. Take CRQ 3
8. Begin reading Tales of the Heike

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IV. Toward the First Warrior Government (9/10-9/16)
1. Complete reading Tales of the Heike.
2. Read Chapter 4 in Premodern Japan
3. Read the online lecture, “Kamakura Bakufu: The First Warrior Government”
4. Participate in the discussion
5. Paper 1 (5-6 pages): follow the guidelines for the assignment posted on Blackboard.

V. Warriors in the Medieval World (9/17-9/23)

1. Read the online lecture, “Here Come the Mongols”
2. Take CRQ 4
3. Read Chapter 5 of Premodern Japan
4. Participate in the discussion
5. Read the online lecture, “Strong and Weak Shoguns of Muromachi”
6. Read the online lecture, “Medieval Warriors at Play”
7. Complete the Midterm Review Essay of two essay questions
8. Take CRQ 5

VI. The Fight for Dominance (9/24-9/30)

1. Read the online lecture, “The Warring States Period”
2. Read the online lecture, “Warring States Daimyō”
3. Read Chapter 6 of Premodern Japan
4. Participate in the discussion
5. Take CRQ 6
6. Read the online lecture, “Oda Nobunaga”
7. Read the online lecture, “Toyotomi Hideyoshi”
8. Take CRQ 7
9. Read Chapter 7 in Premodern Japan
10. Read Hagakure (all)

VII. Midlife Crises for the Samurai in Early Modern Japan (10/1-10/7)
1. Read the online lecture “Tokugawa Ieyasu”
2. Read the online lecture, “Securing the Peace”
3. Participate in the discussion
4. Take CRQ 8
5. Read Chapter 8 in Premodern Japan
6. Read the online lecture, “From Warriors to Bureaucrats”
7. Read the online lecture, “Warriors Without Wars”
8. Read Musui’s Story (all)
9. Paper 2 (5-6 pages) following the guidelines posted on Blackboard

VIII. Twilight of the Samurai, or a New Dawn? (10/8-10/12)

1. Read the online lecture, “Advice for the Samurai”
2. Take CRQ 9
3. Participate in the discussion
4. Read chapters 9 and 10 in Premodern Japan
5. Read the online lecture, “Giving Up the Sword”
6. Read the online lecture, “Legacy of the Samurai”
7. Take CRQ 10
8. Final Review Essay due (uploaded to Blackboard by Friday at 11:00 PM)

Note: The quiz and discussion will close on Friday October 12 at 11:00 PM.

7
 Concealed Weapons‡
Although you may be entitled by law to carry a gun, I urge you not to do so. I agree with the
Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who banned guns from the campus of the
University of Virginia, where they were trustees. They believed that such a policy was both wise and
constitutional.
As the 2012 report commissioned by the Kansas Board of Regents explains, armed students “are
more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal unintentional shooting, criminal assault or suicide attempt
than….in self-defense.” Even in the unlikely event of an active shooter situation, police “may not be able
to distinguish between the shooter and others with firearms,” making it likely that you will be killed. It
warns that “the possession of concealed weapons on campuses poses a threat to learning and working
environments.” See
http://www.margolishealy.com/files/resources/ARGUMENT_AGAINST_ARMING_COLLEGE_STUD
ENTS.pdf

I request that you not bring firearms to class or wherever I am present. When I am trying to focus on
helping you to do your best work, I do not want to worry about whether you might react by pulling a gun
on me, or whether you might have an improperly secured weapon in your belt or bag. I hope that nothing
in this course will make you so desperate, but in my 20 years as a university instructor, I have seen
students become uncontrollably angry because of something that has happened in the course—a
disappointing grade, an allegation of academic misconduct, an uncomfortable topic, a controversial
statement. If you do not carry a weapon, you cannot be tempted to use it in a moment of frustration.
If you choose to carry a gun, you have the ethical responsibility to obtain the necessary training to do
so in a safe manner, even though Kansas law does not require it. In order to assess potentially dangerous
situations accurately and use a firearm effectively, you need to complete extensive firearms training, such
as that provided to military and law enforcement personnel. Without such training, constantly
maintained, you are more likely to cause injury to yourself or an innocent person than to provide anyone
with protection, including yourself. Unfortunately, KU does not provide such training.
If you choose to carry a gun, you must abide strictly by KU requirements. For more information see
the KU policies: https://policy.ku.edu/university-kansas-policy-weapons-including-firearms-effective-
july-1-2017 and
https://policy.ku.edu/provost/KU-L-Weapons-Implementation-Procedures

The gun must be in your “possession and control.” KU policy states, “It is prohibited for any person
to store a handgun…in a purse, handbag, backpack, fanny pack, briefcase or similar location that is not
within the carrier’s custody and control.” According to US Army protocols, “positive control” means
that the gun or the bag containing it is physically tethered to your body at all times.
The gun must be in a holster that covers the trigger. Although other sorts of holsters, pockets, and
purses are available, they are not approved for use at KU.
The gun may not have a round in the chamber. This is essential for safety; a round in the chamber
could be discharged accidentally, causing injury, death, or property damage. If anyone is injured or any
property is damaged by your gun, you will be held civilly and criminally liable, and you will face KU
misconduct charges as well and be banned from campus. The average medical cost incurred as a result of
a gunshot wound is $63,000, and average property damage is over $5,000.
The gun must remain concealed from view at all times. It is your responsibility to ascertain that
the gun remains completely out of view, even when you remove a jacket, raise your hand, pull a
cellphone from your pocket, or remove a computer or notebook from your purse or backpack. If you
allow the gun or its recognizable holster to become visible, even by accident, you are violating the policy.
If you are carrying a gun, you may not reveal that fact through your words in the context of this
‡
As adapted from language provided by History Department Chairperson Eve Levin and used with her
permission.

8
course. Whether or not you personally are carrying a firearm is irrelevant to the material of this course,
so there is no circumstance related to course content that will justify revealing that you carry a
weapon. No matter what your intention, when you talk about carrying a gun, you are informing others
that you have claimed the power of life and death over them, and their survival depends upon your good
will. Thus, any mention of carrying a gun is inherently threatening, aggressive, intimidating, and
coercive. KU policy states that “No person shall use the fact or possibility that he or she is carrying a
concealed weapon with the intent to intimidate another.” The Code of Student Conduct (VI.B.5) prohibits
bullying, defined as “aggressive behavior” intended to “intimidate or harm or control another person
physically or emotionally.” Such speech is “not protected by freedom of expression” and constitutes a
serious violation of University policy, subject to serious sanctions, up to and including expulsion from the
university. Similarly, revealing that someone else is carrying a gun, except to warn others of danger or to
report violations of the campus carry policy to appropriate authorities, may also constitute bullying. For
more information, see
http://policy.ku.edu/sites/policy.ku.edu/files/Code%20of%20Student%20Rights%20and%20Responsibilit
ies_8.12.16_10.6.16.pdf

In keeping with my responsibility to “maintain an efficacious learning environment,” as the Faculty Code
requires, I will report all gun violations to KU and state authorities. You may be asked to leave campus
immediately, and you may be subject to criminal charges as well as University disciplinary processes. In
addition, you will be banned from my classroom until KU authorities have certified that you are no longer
a danger to yourself and others.
If you observe any violations of KU gun policies, the proper course of action is to call KU Safety
(785-864-5900) immediately and report it. We recommend that you insert this number into your
phone. For your own safety, do not confront the owner of the weapon.
If you witness someone brandishing or firing a weapon, or behaving in an angry, aggressive, or
uncontrolled manner, even without a gun in view, leave the scene immediately, seek a safer environment,
and dial 911.
🔫 🔫🔫 Welcome to Kansas! 🔫🔫🔫

Some additional gun facts to consider from Gifford’s Law Center (http://lawcenter.giffords.org/facts/statistics,
accessed 10 August 2018)
Claims that guns are used defensively millions [of] times every year have been widely discredited. Using a
gun in self-defense is no more likely to reduce the chance of being injured during a crime than various other forms
of protective action. At least one study has found that carrying a firearm significantly increases a person’s risk of
being shot in an assault; research published in the American Journal of Public Health reported that, even after
adjusting for confounding factors, individuals who were in possession of a gun were about 4.5 times more likely to
be shot in an assault than those not in possession.
The gun lobby has often cited a thoroughly debunked statistic that guns are used defensively 2.5 million
times per year in the United States. That discredited estimate came from a 1995 study that suffered from several
fatal methodological flaws, including its reliance on only 66 responses in a telephone survey of 5,000 people,
multiplied out to purportedly represent over 200 million American adults. The authors of that discredited study
themselves stated that in up to 64% of their reported defensive gun use cases, the guns were carried or used illegally,
including cases where the victim was actually the aggressor.
A study published in 2013 by the Violence Policy Center, using five years of nationwide statistics (2007-
2011) compiled by the federal Bureau of Justice found that defensive gun use occurs at a dramatically lower rate,
about 98.5% lower than the gun lobby has claimed. The V.P.C. also found that for every one justifiable homicide in
the United States involving a gun, guns were used in 44 criminal homicides. This ratio does not take into account
the tens of thousands of lives lost in gun suicides or accidental shootings every year.
Researchers conservatively estimate that gun violence costs the American economy at least $229 billion
every year, including $8.6 billion in direct expenses such as for emergency and medical care. Gun violence costs
more than $700 per American every year, more than the total economic cost of obesity and almost as much as the
annual price tag for the entire Medicaid program.