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"handgun manufacturers build guns solely to murder other human beings" That's a gross oversimplification of a complex issue. Very few people obtain a handgun
by TrevorJ 17y ago
"handgun manufacturers build guns solely to murder other human beings"
That's a gross oversimplification of a complex issue. Very few people obtain a handgun legally for the purpose of Murdering somebody. (Less than 1% of legally obtained firearms are used in a crime) The primary reason to own one is for personal protection which implies the direct preservation of life. Ignoring that fact is intellectually dishonest.
- forinti 17y agoOwning a guns doubles your chances of getting killed by one, so it only really augments your perception of safety.
- TrevorJ 17y agoSource please. Also, statistically, do gun owners live in unsafer environments to begin with, hence the perceived need for ownership?
- forinti 17y agoThis is a highly controversial article, I admit: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/329/15/1084 http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/329/15/1084 Gun ownership is widespread in the US, and lots of people have them in perfectly safe regions. So do they not create a source of danger where there was none? Accidents do happen. In my country, gun deaths went down considerably after the police started taking them out of circulation. As one police officer put it, bar fights became a lot less deadly in the suburbs.
- TrevorJ 17y agoThanks for the link. Yes, it is true that accidents happen, I'll give you that. The same can be said for cars, which kill far more people each year than handguns. I'm not arguing one way or the other here, just saying it is a difficult issue.
- baddox 17y agoThat gets into a different argument: should people be allowed to do things that don't have a demonstrable health or safety benefit for them? Should unhealthy foods be outlawed? Exercise mandated?
- baddox 17y agoEven if that statistic does exist, I'm sure the relationship isn't causal.
- jrockway 17y agoWhat are you intending to do with your gun, if not to kill someone? Shoot their arm off? ("Your arm's off!" "No it isn't.") Okay, that's fine...
- TrevorJ 17y agoNot unless you have to. Walk softly, carry a big stick. If all else fails then yes, I'm sorry, but yes, if somebody breaks into a house and threatens my family I will threaten them with force. The lives of 4 people who are innocent are greater than that of one who willingly put themselves into a criminal position. Do I wish that that wasn't necessary, sure, but that's not the reality of human nature. The threat of force has always been a factor in survival. Even in nature. Poison caterpillars rarely get eaten, the birds learn to avoid them.
- baddox 17y agoGee, I don't know, for target practice, hunting, or simply collecting. I'm sure those three reasons make up the vast majority of legal firearm sales.