C.D. Chuck Michel of Michel & Associates has revisited a 2014 analysis, saying any honest firearm policy ledger must include lawful defensive benefits that often generate no police file. CDC data listed 44,447 firearm deaths in 2024, among them 27,593 suicides and 15,364 homicides. National Academies work called victim defensive uses a common occurrence and cited survey ranges from 500,000 to more than 3 million a year, while William English estimated 1.67 million incidents with the gun unfired in more than 80 percent of reports. Pew Research Center found 72 percent of owners give protection as a major reason and 81 percent feel safer because they own a gun. Michel adds that Heller and Bruen keep certain restrictions off the table even if later studies dispute net social return.