Quote:
Originally posted by rock_bottom
BBtB: So without guns and accidental shootings, kids would still just randomly die while looking in their parents bedrooms?
If guns are around, people are more likely to die. ANYONE can kill with a gun, not everyone can kill with a knife, and few people can kill with bare hands. That's simply how it is.
That said, just because guns lead to increased deaths, it doesn't mean we need more gun control. But I don't think it's realistic to deny that guns increase the number of deaths and injuries in America.
|
rock_bottom: I tend to agree with you that it becomes MUCH easier to kill with a gun, as opposed to other means of killing.
In my country, guns are banned, shooting a gun while committing a crime will earn you a short trip to the gallows. Personally, I'll take this trade-off in my civil rights anyday. I'd rather have the freedom to walk around, safe from being shot, than have the freedom of owning a firearm.
Returning to the lethality of firearms, their lethality makes it extremely easy to kill on the spur of the moment. Anger, Jealousy... you name it. Having access to lethal firepower at that moment, simply increases the probability that a simple argument or disagreement, that might otherwise have been settled with a fistfight ( which might or might not be lethal) turns into a murder.