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Originally Posted by Phage
...and as I said, I think that it the real problem. You should move to an area where the community does not scare you rather than trying to disarm the population. Guns are certainly not the only way people can hurt you.
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There are a lot of irresponsible and/or crazy people in any population. Even if someone isn't certifiably "crazy" or criminal, it is not at all uncommon for people to go into temporary rages. This is the reason that many people are afraid of an armed populace. I've heard plenty of stories of spouses pulling guns on each other during an argument, for example. It's also not that uncommon for some people to start playing with guns when drunk. Shootings in these types of settings are probably not intentional most of the time. Unlike almost any other weapon, a gun makes it extremely easy to do irreparable damage with only a momentary lapse in judgement (or even by complete accident). It also cannot be defended against, and modulating the amount of damage inflicted is extremely difficult.
A knife is very different. It takes serious, prolonged effort to kill someone with a knife. It would not be an accident.
If defending yourself with a knife (admittedly useless against a gun, but not all muggers use guns), you could easily disable someone without killing them. You also can't end up accidentally killing an innocent bystander with a knife. That is very easy to do with a gun.