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I think "i have the freedom to own guns and the government shouldn't do anything about it" is a perfectly valid ethical argument.
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No argument here.
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I don't see why the need to make utilitarian claims
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Because Statists usually refuse to make the acknowledgment you did above. Statism/collectivism is a largely result-oriented paradigm, whereas Individualism is a rights/ethics-based paradigm. Since Statists are the ones trying to ban guns, the only hope Individualists have of convincing them not to do so (absent violence), is by persuading them on a results-based level. I personally and philosophically agree with you. However, since the gun-grabbers are unwilling to even acknowledge, much less work with, the ethical arguement, utilitarian arguments prevail.