"Even as gun ownership has surged in the US in the past year, violent crime, including murder and robbery, has dropped steeply."
Switzerland has lax gun laws, they don't have some rampant gun crazy mass murdering society. UK has stricter gun laws, highest knife crime rate in the world? I also believe that common household objects such as baseball bats are used more often in violent crimes than guns are.Police can't be everywhere at once either. Relying on them is not always (mostly useless in a real emergency like a violent crime) an effective plan. They are emergency RESPONSE. How close someone is to you, how busy they are, all of it changes how quickly or slowly they get to you. Average time for them to get out can be up to a half hour in some places? So you can't even rely on police. You have to take responsibility for your own life at some point and protection instead of outsourcing it to someone who might not even be there.
@GhostOfSparta4 @Rhettdeal49 You're a fool if you think no one can use a TOOL for offense or defense. Do you have any idea how many people rob banks without ever displaying a weapon? I didn't think so. They often hand a damn note and get out and a lot of times they don't even have a weapon. Criminals will NEVER be too scared to do anything. You know in China a guy did this very same thing almost with a KNIFE? Do you have any idea how many crimes are committed WITHOUT GUNS?? You act as if guns are the only thing people commit crimes with.They ARE a deterrent. Do you think someone is going to attempt to rob or do anything violent in a place where they're likely to get shot themselves in an instant of doing it? I don't think the vast majority would try it. Do you think the guy would have gone to that school and killed as many as he did if there was a police officer with a gun? Multiple? If the teachers had a gun to defend themselves and their students with? I bet your ass guns could have and very likely would have been able to save lives in that situation. They are a TOOL and the only thing they do is what the person uses them for.
Swords, knives, bats, everything, they're all the same. They are inanimate objects. They simply do what they are manipulated to do. They can all take life. They can all protect life as well.
@pongley @Jarten Guns aren't designed just to kill people. Guns are tools. Are bows created just to kill people? No. Guns are used to hunt, bows are used to hunt. People can use any tool wrong. That does not mean they are intended simply to kill people. You're a fool if you honestly think guns are simply designed to kill people. It's natural evolution of technology. It's more efficient than any prior means we've had to obtain the same thing.
@Crossel777 @RaddaRaddaRadda The general public isn't out committing crimes.
What stops military personnel from going crazy and shooting people? You can't guarantee ANYTHING with people. But that doesn't mean things like guns should simply be taken away because a very small minority of people use them wrongly. Do you think cars should be limited because of the number of accidents people have? The amount of people who drink and drive? I don't see an outcry to get rid of vehicles even though those are the implements that are used to cause such tragedies to occur like drunk driving or recklessly endangering people whether it's driving unsafely or high speed chases or any number of things. Can the general public not be trusted with cars because of all the things that happen with them?
@Meta_Dragon @dark_rising76 Exactly. People need to really pull their heads out of their asses and look deeper into the situation. The cause is something with the individual. Blaming games and guns is akin to blaming your fork or hot dogs for making you fat. YOU made those decisions. YOU are the cause. Whether there is something deeper or underlying is different, but it still comes back to you.
I blame a lot of this stuff on nobody wanting to hold themselves or anyone responsible or accountable for their own actions. Someone killed a bunch of people, blame the weapon. Blame books, movies, games, whatever. Whatever you do, do NOT blame the person for their actions! That's how I feel a lot of people think even if they don't explicitly think in those exact terms, regarding situations like this...
@ShipwreckX Only problem with armed guards and all at a school is that it will likely breed fear more readily and easily. Having a police officer or security (we had security without any sort of weapons at my high school) on the grounds isn't a bad idea just for a quick emergency response, but I wouldn't want to go too far with it either.
@Splock I wish more people had the rationality to see things this way. Who could honestly say that someone like this who would prey on the weak and defenseless would make an attempt knowing that they could very well get shot themselves or subdued quickly upon revealing that intent?
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