Only the certifiably stupid can say with conviction that its bad people who kill and guns don't. So hell, just send our soldiers into Iraq and Afghanistan to fend for themselves and develop some weapon of self defense if guns don't kill. This pro-gun argument makes about as much sense as claiming that "glasses don't see, eyes see" is a good argument against wearing glasses. Glasses are a tool which helps people to see just as guns are a tool that help people to kill and injure others. Empirical research indicates that firearms increase the chances that a crime will turn deadly.
A study done by the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence reported that a victim is about five times more likely to survive if an attacker is armed with a knife rather than a gun.
Furthermore, the International Crime Victim Survey concluded that there is a correlation between gun ownership and an increase in both homicide and suicide. "The present study, based on a sample of eighteen countries, confirms the result of previous work based on the 14 countries surveyed during the first International Crime Survey. Substantial correlations were found between gun ownership and gun-related as well as total homicide and suicide rates. Widespread gun ownership has not been found to reduce the likelihood of fatal events committed with other means. Thus, people do not turn to knives and other potentially lethal weapons less often when more guns are available, but more guns usually mean more victims of homicide and suicide."
And what about the argument about protection from political tyranny? That kind of reasoning has spawned hundreds of heavily armed militias in the United States that hate the federal government and believe that arming themselves is the solution to some violent takeover in the future.
That's so much toilet product that, again, it defies both history and logic. Consider the following: Private ownership of guns was very common under Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. It certainly didn't protect the Iraqi people against political tyranny. Gun ownership was legalized in Germany in 1928, five years before Hitler rose to power. Despite the claims of pro-gun activists, gun ownership did nothing to stop a tyrant like Hitler from seizing power. And closer to home the Branch Dravidians in Waco, Texas, were powerless to stop the FBI and other legally armed departments of the state from using superior violent force to end the stand-off situation when matters came to a head.
Finally, there is the warped myth that keeping guns in the home increases personal protection. Gun enthusiasts chortle that keeping firearms in their home is about protecting their families and their homes from some presumed "outside invader." Therefore, they reason, hoarding automatic rifles and the latest handguns from Glock, Smith and Wesson et al. enhances their abilities to "shoot on sight" at such intruders.
Those who own firearms are actually more likely to be victims of homicide. Two studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine revealed that keeping a gun in the home increases the risk of both suicide and homicide. Keeping a gun in the home makes it 2.7 times more likely that someone will be a victim of homicide in your home (in almost all cases the victim is either related to or intimately acquainted with the murderer) and 4.8 times more likely that someone will commit suicide. Guns make it more likely that a suicide attempt will be successful than if other means were used such as sleeping pills.
The Second Amendment is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that in its original language protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791. For gun-toting zealots who tout the Second Amendment for its undisputed and infallible conclusions on the rights of a United States citizen to own any kind of gun ("arms" is a loose generic term for all armaments) this is immutable and unchangeable. Again, it defies all logic to cling steadfastly to a piece of legislation that was passed when there were only 14 states in the Union and at a time when the United States was an undeveloped, relatively backward nation.
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