There are statistics out there that argue you’re more likely to be shot if you have a gun in the house. It’s a scary statistic, but one that ultimately ignores many key facts. For one, it doesn’t differentiate between law-abiding gun owners and criminals.

For another, it counts all of these shootings as the same, failing to note cases where one family member shoots another family member in self-defense, cases like one that recently happened in Louisiana.

Shreveport police are investigating after a man reportedly shot his son in the leg behind a clinic Tuesday morning.

It happened just before 8 a.m. in the parking lot behind the Specialists Health System in 1500 block of Line Avenue.

According to a Shreveport detective on scene, 71-year-old Felton Downing and his son 42-year-old Duawn Downing were having a dispute in the parking lot when Duawn charged toward his dad.

Investigators say Duawn made verbal threats to kill his father while strangling him.

That’s when Felton says he tried to fire a warning shot in self-defense and ended up shooting his son in the leg.

That ended the threat and, unfortunately, adds to any statistics saying you’re more likely to be shot if there’s a gun in the home.

Yet this is one of those cases where it shouldn’t matter. There was an alleged threat to someone’s life, and they used a firearm to end the threat. Does it matter, in the grand scheme of things, if it’s the man’s son or not?

Now, for Mr. Felton, I’m sure it matters a great deal, but for us? Not really.

Guns save lives. Period.

While anti-gunners may prattle on and on about how that’s not true, not a single intellectually honest statistic supports their assertion. Guns save more lives than they reportedly take, even if you count suicides as well. Take out suicides, and it looks even more lopsided in favor of guns.

The truth is many people who account for the statistics mentioned above weren’t what we normally think of as “criminals” but were abusive spouses, parents, or children who were shot in self-defense. Yes, there were guns in the home, but those guns did precisely what they were meant to do. They stopped a threat to innocent life.

The fact that the threat got their mail at the same address is irrelevant.

I’m glad Mr. Felton survived his ordeal. Frankly, I’m also glad he doesn’t have to deal with the psychological baggage that would come with killing your son, even if it is in self-defense. While it would be easy for me to say that he should have blown the alleged twerp away, I’m not the one that would have to deal with the ramifications of that. I can only imagine what it would be like and I’m glad Mr. Felton is spared that.

As for the alleged twerp, well, he should have some time to spend rethinking his life choices. In particular, maybe he’ll rethink his means of channeling his anger.

For example, wrapping your hands around someone’s throat is generally not a good way to go about life if you want to live to a ripe old age.