Yeah, let's not forget the thousands of lives that guns save each year. Sure guns are made for killing people, but that's necessary sometimes; sometimes moreso than a baseball bat or golf club. Bats and clubs really, truly have no purpose outside of sports. What I'm sure you, and most, anti-gun people are upset about is illegal use of guns. Forgive me for going Lewis Black here, but..... IT'S ALREADY FUCKING IILLEGAL TO KILL PEOPLE!!!
So then why is every politician who is for gun control also against stricter punishment of gun crimes? Shouldn't we stop demonizing simple objects and focus on hanging criminals by their wieners?
Also, with advances in the nutritional sciences, forks and knives have become barbaric implements of yesteryear. On the other hand, nothing has yet made mankind peaceful, so guns still have a purpose for self defense. I'd find you that story of an 80 year-old gun store owner (ok fine, I'll give you that one, but any store owner could suffer the same) that drove off a car full of about 8 attackers with his AR-15 and several 30-round clips of ammo. Nobody was injured, he just turned their car into a colander. A single-use can of mace wouldn't have done jack shit. Sure,
on average, you'll be fine with a pump shotgun to defend your crib, but some people are at more risk than others.
There is one elitist wacho I know that thinks that people who can't defend themselves are weak and shouldn't expect to survive. Never mind that this includes almost everybody who's female, younger than 15, or older than 60.