but I wonder how many of the crimes committed with firearms are just your average citizen who wouldn't have a gun if they were illegal and thus reduce the amount of crimes committed with firearms. The crimes I speak of are generally domestic dispute type crimes.
Well, your righ. If all guns were illegal, criminals would stiil have guns, but most "regular" (people who dont rob, steal, rape, etc) would not have them then, as they are the type who will obey the law, just becasue its the law. And thus, domestic violence with
firearms would go down like you say, since a "regular" person, with no gun, who decides to hurt/kill his wife in the heat of passion cant use a firearm to do it. However, the rate of DM with anything
other than a firearm would likely go up, since those who would have used a firearm in the heat of passion cant, but the desire to hurt didnt go away, so they'll just beat, kick, stab, etc. In the heat of passion in a DM situation, the person who "snaps" as it were will use whatever is available. if guns arent available, they'll just use something else. So, DM wont go down, just DM with firearms.
As the saying goes, dead is dead, whether you were shot, stabbed, stomped, checked, poisoned, etc. the tool used to kill means nothing. with less people having guns, the killing will just switch to other tools, as is seen in countires where firearms are much more heavily restricted. They tend to have higher rates of baseball bat, knife, choking, etc attacks, plus, with only BG's armed, they will likely victimize and/or kill more people than before, since they know they have a gun, and you dont, or at least, they'll get away with it more, since no one can hold them at gunpoint to get arrested, or shoot them, both of which cut short thier life of violent crime.
