Without bothering to wade through 6 pages of posts, I'm going to throw in my $.02 worth and address a few points from your opening post.
i dont like guns. i see them as having no constructive value whatsoever. objectively speaking, they are a means to get a bullet from point a to point b, but they were originally designed for killing things.
Exactly, and what's wrong with killing things? It's how almost all living creatures survive. If killing is immoral, the exisitence of 99.9% of all life is immoral. Killing is immoral only when someone initiates the use of force against another. Killing in self defense is perfectly moral, as is killing for food.
but why own guns like the m16 and tommygun? you cant hunt with those.
Says who? They may not be the most effective hunting weapons, but they can be used for hunting if necessary, just as an Olympic grade .22 short target pistol can be used for self-defense, if necessary. The fact that a particular gun might not be the very best design for a purpose doesn't change the fact that it can serve the purpose. Besides, see my first point.
but is everyone out there really so paranoid that the government is going to come along one day, become a corrupt dictatorship, and kill everyone who opposes it?
Paranoia is an ureasoning fear of the unlikely or impossible. The government of the US
HAS done all the following:
Burned citizens alive
Exposed citizens to lethal levels of radiation without their knowledge
Infected citizens with VD without their knowledge
Condoned through non-interference the lynchings of its citizens of color
Given aid to tyranical right wing gov'ts in other parts of the world
These things aren't even the tip of the iceberg; they are the tip of the tip of the iceberg. Are we paranoid, or merely being appropriately cautious?
Consider also the FACT that genocides perpertrated by GOVERNMENTS during the 20th century accounted for 10's of millions of deaths, not to mention the wars they started. Yes, GOVERNMENTS start wars; they may be fought by people, but they are started by GOVERNMENT.
George Washington said it best:
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. If we wish to remain the master of government, and not have it be OUR master, then we, the people,
must cherish and embrace the RIGHT to be able to defend ourselves against it by being at least as well armed as the government apparatus.
The best way to make sure that "it can't happen here" is to assume that it CAN indeed happen, and be prepared to prevent it by any means possible, including the use of lethal force. As soon as the people begin to become complacent and think "it can't happen here," they begin paving the way to make sure it DOES happen here. A corruption-proof government cannot be designed; it's a flat impossibility.
what would happen to an airliner at 35000 feet if a bullet went through the side of the passenger compartment?
Not much of anything. The James Bond film
Goldfinger has inadvertently perpetrated a huge misconception about depressurization. A modern airliner can survive some pretty serious damage. Several years ago, an airliner in flight had about 1/3 of the cabin blow out due to metal fatigue, IIRC, and it was able to land safely. Some people not wearing seat belts were killed because they were blown out by the wind, and some others died because they were in the part of the fuselage that blew out, but the point is that the plane made it back to the ground safely. If an airliner can survive that type thing, it stands to reason it can surely withstand a few less-than half an inch holes in the fuselage.
The right to keep and bear arms is nothing more than an extension of the basic right to life. My life and the fruits of my labor are mine to do with as I please. Because my life is MINE, I DO have the right to choose to be able to defend it. To believe otherwise means that one believes that some degree of slavery is acceptable. I find this abhorrent to the extreme. There is no such thing as an acceptable amount or degree of slavery, period. Anyone who disputes this is automatically an enemy of liberty, freedom, and justice. Such beliefs are beyond even extreme contempt. That's the ONE thing I think there should be zero tolerance for.