BigBore44 said:
...Of course we know that guns are inanimate objects....
The thing is that this business of "guns are inanimate objects" or "guns aren't dangerous, people are" is fundamentally sophistic balderdash. People are afraid of dangerous people with guns. I'm afraid of dangerous people with guns, and that's why I want a gun of my own (and some good training).
It's all about people who are afraid of guns and who are afraid of people with guns. Don't try to convince them that guns aren't dangerous. They won't believe you. I won't believe you.
Guns are supposed to be dangerous. They fling small bits of metal at high speeds long distances, instantly, on the demand of the handler with just a press of a trigger. Once fired that bit of metal will hit with potentially devastating effect whatever the gun was pointed at. A gun that doesn't isn't much use as a gun. It's that attribute of a gun that increases an evil person's capacity to do evil. It's also that attribute of a gun which makes a gun useful to the good person to defend against evil.
Suzi Soccermom isn't sure who she can trust with a gun. She's not really sure whether the guy on the next block who folks say has some guns is a level headed, normal, stand-up guy like her friends who don't have guns, or if he's kind of bent, tending to violence, or teetering on the edge of psycho. She might well imagine that many gun owners are more like the latter. She might even think that's why they have guns. And if you read the gun forums, some of our fellow gun owners aren't helping to dispel that fantasy -- some seem to try hard to confirm it.
She might be okay with guns if she could be sure that they were kept out the hands of the "wrong" people. But some recent rampage murders passed background checks and bought their guns legally.
A gun is a particularly efficient and effective way to increase a dangerous person's ability to do harm, and certain guns, like an AR-15, are particular efficient and effective types of guns for that purpose.
The reality is that guns are particularly effective and efficient tools for causing substantial injury to humans. They can be used for that purpose more effectively and efficiently than hands, clubs, or knives. That is why they tend to be the choice of criminals, psychopaths and sociopaths. That is also why they tend to be the first choice of the honest person who wants to defend himself and his family from criminals, psychopaths, and sociopaths.
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