It is also worth pointing out that when opponents tackle each other with knives, they rarely stab anyone other than their target.

Firing a gun on the street can result in the death of anyone within the effective range of the weapon, from a five year old child on a swing, to a passing teenage cyclist, as has occasionally happened, especially as gang members tend to be fans of Bruce Willis or Stephen Segal, and spray bullets quite indiscriminately.

Why would we want to increase the likelihood of that kind of situation?

No Sir, you keep the guns and keep persuading yourself that they are a good thing to have.

The single most stupid comment I ever heard from a supposedly rational human being was the reaction of a father to the loss of his student son in one of the many college mass killings of recent years in the USA.

On TV this man said ""I wish I'd bought my boy a gun and taught him to use it. Then he would still be alive""

I wanted to take hold of him and shake him till he rattled, then tell him ""If another father had the sense not to buy his boy a gun and teach him to use it, your boy would indeed still be alive""

Don T.