In the battle over statistics and gun control, there is one crucial but invisible statistic that will never be reported.

Tragedy that doesn’t happen because of a gun (owner).

Ernestine Aldana owns a grocery store near the corner of Muskego Avenue and Becher Street in Milwaukee. On Dec. 14, Aldana was working in the store when a man entered the store and pulled a knife on her.

“I was really scared,” she said.

But as the man reached for cash from the drawer, Aldana pulled a gun from underneath the counter.

“I didn’t think,” she said. “I didn’t remember what was being said. I just took a step back, grabbed the gun and that was that.”

As the gun came out, the man ran away.

Nobody is dead. Nobody is shot. And a crime was prevented. Yes, a gun did that. Rather, a gun owner did that.