As the right to keep and bear arm is no longer subject to means-end tests... .... even if true, this doesn't matter.
And there are self-defense classes you can take where instructors teach you how you can kill people with a Number #2 pencil. The whole paradigm about 'people killing people' is as old as humanity itself -- only the technology changes. .
So suicides are, in your opinion, a good thing? Reducing suicides is a valid goal. Except the purpose of ladders and pools isn't to make you safer... so your argument would only work if the person owned the gun for enjoyment, but acknowledged it increases their risk of death as a side effect.
Property crimes? Certainly some. But this is at the cost of increased violent crime and there are other ways to fight property crime.
It's harder for people to kill people without a gun. Without a gun, blind rage is more likely to result in battery, or attempted murder, than successful murder. Many, if not most, murders are unplanned.
Because they think guns are dangerous and kill people. Imagine if there were a constitutional right to do drugs (not too far-fetched - bodily autonomy, right to privacy). Conservatives would react about the same way to that as liberals do to guns.
If you are afraid of the dangers you think gun ownership causes, then don't own one. Don't project your fear upon those of us who understand firearms and accept what is a very small risk to those of us who are responsible owners
That guns are dangerous and can be used to kill people is the exact reason our right to use own them is protected by the constitution. That is: Guns, working as intended. You want to give up your right to keep and bear arms? Have at it. Don't buy a gun. That you choose to give up your right is not a sound argument for taking that choice away from everyone else.
It's a public health issue. It's important to educate people on the facts to make it more likely they will make an informed decision. An average person owning a gun is less safe for doing so. Most people overestimate their abilities. To save lives, people should be aware of this. It's great you think people like ex-cops, firearms instructors, and ex-military are exceptions. I am not sure if the general conclusions apply to such subgroups as I have not seen such data.
and more importantly self defense is harder without a gun. Now when I was 25 and a teaching professional athlete with lots of martial arts training, including knives and sticks. I probably could handle most individual muggers and perhaps a couple. Now I am 64, have had knee, elbow, shoulder and abdominal surgery and I know longer can run a 50 flat 400 or dunk a basketball, I realize even with a knife, I am going to have a hard time dealing with a prison hardened 25 year old mope, and especially two. But I am still one of the fastest competitive shooters in SW Ohio. My wife was a red belt in Tae Kwan Do but with her hip replacement she cannot throw a spinning back kick anymore. But she shoots every week and easily passes any law enforcement qualifying course she has shot. So guns are the BEST self defensive option for those of us who are older or have had physical issues. And all the gun laws lefties want to impose on us do, is to disarm good people and not criminals
Well I was saying where liberals in general are coming from, not necessarily me. It's not some conspiracy to oppress right-wingers is the point, it's because they think more guns means more death and they think they can legislate them to be less common. I remember I was in the San Francisco area at a dinner party full of liberals and I made the argument that gun laws won't stop gun violence because criminals don't obey the law. Their response? "It's worth a try!" Well obviously to them, as they place no value on gun ownership themselves. My position has evolved a bit. I think of it more like a public health issue like drug use now.
An attorney I once tried a case against-successfully-was half way through his PhD in psychology when he decided being an attorney was a better career choice. He noted to me that many people who push laws are pushing laws to prevent people JUST LIKE THEM from doing something. He suggested that many gun banners don't trust themselves to own or use firearms responsibly and thus project their perceived incompetence and fear onto others. The former chief firearms instructor for the biggest municipal police department in our area noted that a former anti gun chief of police had to get a waiver for firearms qualifications-the instructor noted the chief wanted to ban concealed carry permits because he was projecting his own incompetence onto us
Evidently living alone, renting and living in a gated community increase your risk of death, specifically that of homicide in the home. Should this information be in the lease and mortgage papers?
You haven't seen the data because all of the studies on the subject include plenty of criminals in the data set, and that skews the results upwards.
One from the OP that I'm familiar with actually looks at the whole voting population of California, but then picks non gun-owners at baseline and separates them over time into those who do and do not end up living with lawful gun owners. That's not really a skew towards criminals. I don't think you can dismiss all such studies with just that.
No, the study was measuring lawful gun ownership's effect on the homicide death of somebody moving in with them, but lawful gun ownership was more likely in rural areas, not bad neighborhoods.
