archetypal fool

I agree with most of what you said, Will. I'll also point out that your last point a few posts back was a very important one.

It's easy, at least in principle, to assume that removing guns from the population would solve these problems, but I feel that it would do the exact opposite. The fact is, there are evil, sick, degenerate people out there who are more than willing to kill others. It's disgusting, and a travesty, but that's the nature of the beasts we are. That being said, we will always have problems like these. As so many people have already said, if you're willing to kill people, for what ever reason, then breaking a gun law is nothing to you.

Lets assume, if only for argument's sake, that by some miracle, guns were suddenly removed from the nation. What then? Criminals and psychopaths are the way they are not because they have the opportunity to own a gun, but because they are mentally ill. If guns are removed, then these people will just move down the ladder; they'll start building home-made firearms, or using knives. They'll find a way. It's important to realize that it's the explicit purpose of these people to harm others, so the method by which they do so isn't going to make their goal any less desirable.

That being said, I say that if these people have the ability to gain fire-arms, regardless of whether they do so legally or otherwise, then the least we can do to defend ourselves is to level the playing field. I know that if I were a criminal, I would specifically target neighborhoods which prohibit guns, because that's where I'll most likely get away with my crimes. Who's going to stop me? The most the residents can do is throw stuff at me, in which case I'm sure my projectile will be much more effective than theirs will.

I can't remember where or when exactly, but approximately a year ago, at some mall, some psycho decided to shoot up some people. A citizen with a concealed weapon permit quickly ended that spree before things got too out of hand. Not too long ago, a man killed two robbers who broke into his store and held guns to his wife's head. In fact, that was the second time that has happened to the same man. Both times, he defended his life and that of his family and property, through the use of fire-arms. If I were a criminal, I'd take care not to wander too close to that particular store...


With that in mind, I believe that there is truly very little which can be done to stop these kinds of things from happening. You wouldn't have had any luck convincing the sick piece of shit who committed this crime not to go through with it, just as you wouldn't have any luck convincing Islamic militant extremists not to blowing up their Parliament and their own people. Removing guns will only make you and me more vulnerable. Equally so, making guns completely unrestricted will probably cause more harm than good. Take any university, for example. Obviously, you can't mix guns with college kids, drugs, sex, alcohol, anxiety, depression, and inexperience. That's basically a recipe for the End of Days.

Bottom line is, we need guns. Until the government decides to completely and indefinitely rid the country of these weapons, replacing them instead with publicly accessible stun-guns and other non-lethal alternatives, all we have to protect ourselves and our property is a force equal to that which the criminals use. It's a damn shame, but not everyone in the world is a lawful, wonderful , beautiful person.