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Rationality Rebooted

From time to time I run across a new (to me) resource that is worth sharing, and today I’d like to tell you about a website called Rationality Rebooted (RR). RR is dedicated to reporting the self-defense stories that you never hear about from the mainstream media, similar to the Armed Citizen column in American Rifleman, and they do it in a somewhat unique way.

Rationality Rebooted

There are a bunch of websites out there that do this already of course (Monderno reports on such news from time to time as well), but Rationality Rebooted seems to do a really nice job of it. What I like about RR is that it seems to be updated fairly regularly, and I like the way they report on the incidents. Each defensive gun use (DGU) is documented in a no fluff way with the following information (screenshot above):

  • Date
  • Time
  • Location
  • Crime Prevented
  • Description of Bad Guy(s)
  • Description of Good Guy(s)
  • Type of Gun Used
  • Outcome
  • Sources

A couple things make this interesting to me. First and most obvious is that the source of the story is cited, so that you know these are not made up. Second, because RR actively tracks the type of gun used, it allows you to view all stories of self-defense involving a certain type of gun, like AR-15’s, for example. Pretty cool.

Rationality Rebooted Interactive Map

Rationality Rebooted also has an interactive map (screenshot above) that is useful in showing where these incidents are happening. Seeing them placed on a map gives you a sense for how much crime an area of the country has, for example.

I don’t know who runs the website, but so far I’m liking what I’m seeing, so much so that I wanted to share with Monderno readers. Head on over and check them out.

6 Responses to Rationality Rebooted

  1. Bob AND Jolyn Esquerre July 16, 2013 at 9:08 pm #

    Thanks Brandon! A great resource!

  2. Hillbilly Bob July 16, 2013 at 9:12 pm #

    Very interesting site and thanks for posting the website

  3. Brian hill July 16, 2013 at 9:56 pm #

    Brandon first of all let me say that I really enjoy your website and the content that you post. But I feel that when you say that the mainstream media is not reporting these stories you might be off the mark a little bit. At the end of each incident description it lists a source. So far each one I looked at was either a tv station or a newspaper. To me that seems like mainstream media. Unfortunately we live in a day and age where news that’s a little more sexy and violent seems to see more play in the headlines because the reality of it is, that is what people really want to see.

    Thanks again for all your work and great posts.
    Brian Hill

    • Brandon July 16, 2013 at 10:29 pm #

      Thanks Brian, but I don’t consider local news and local newspapers to be mainstream, as it doesn’t reach the mainstream. When is the last time the national media did a story on the defensive use of firearms? It’s pretty rare in my experience.

  4. Chris Knowles July 16, 2013 at 11:30 pm #

    Thanks for sharing this.

  5. Elliot July 17, 2013 at 3:19 pm #

    Thank you very much for this. You’re right about local newspapers and stations not being mainstream, remember though that most of them are owned and supported by one of the national conglomerates.