hi, i'd actually like someone to do some research contradictory to media views:

how many people are saved each day through the use of a gun? this
could be saved from being robbed, raped, murdered, etc. primarily
focusing on civilians. (non police/military.. average people)

www.nraila.org/ 
www.nra.org/ 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association

This may be of interest to you:

"According to the Clinton Justice Department (in 1997), Americans use
guns in self-defense as many as 4,110 times every day. This means that
guns are used 50 times more to save life than to illegitimately take
life."

http://www.gunowners.org/pr0412.htm

Howdy Pinkfreud,
Of course, I don't have to tell you that the link does offer much to
substantiate that figure, at least I didn't find anything  - anything!
 It is not just a problem of the source - also the sites from the NRA
-  but that there is no way to  quantify such data.  I won't quible
about the definition of "use of a firearm", it doesn't have to have
been fired, just shown, or maybe just known that the liquor store
owner has one and has used it in the past.  But on that basis, does he
get counted as incident of self-defense for every day he is in his
store?
Maybe that is quibling, but it points out the difficulty of the statistic.

mike123106-ga 
Read "More Guns Less Crime," by John Lott.
He provides an overwhelming ammount of statistics that prove to anyone
willing to actually read the book that more guns mean less crime.