I think the point of the thread is more to do with the ethics of killing rather than the have gun/not have gun thing. You could kill someone quite easily with a well aimed banjo. Obviously it's impractical to ban every object that could ever be used to cause harm, but I do think it is in global society's best interests to adopt a culture of non violence.Norton made an interesting point further up:
"The one thing I do know is that the core concept of an armed military being sent where the government wants with consent of the governed makes all of us culpable in the killing. Being the payee is no better than being the one paid in my opinion.
Makes us all assasins by proxy doesn't it?"
I don't know much about how politics works in the states, but in the U.K. we have a party system, where one party always wins whatever. So we have a choice of
Labour Conservative
(currently, politically almost exactly the same)
Smaller parties with insufficient support to gain a majority.
Or, If you don't like any of the buggers, you can say so on your voting card, in which case it is considered "spoilt" and counted as void.
In the last election, 4 in 10 did not vote at all (which I think should be considered a vote against all candidates), and due to the electoral system in the U.K. only those who live in marginal constituencies can make a difference anyway. Where I live, the Conservative candidate always wins, for example.
4 in 10 by the way is a greater proportion of the electorate than voted for the Labour party this time. I think they got something like 36% of the remaining 6 in 10 who did vote.
Also, there is no Socialist party in the U.K. with sufficient credibility to attract enough votes to gain a seat in Westminster (a few in Scotland, apparently) etc etc. Basically, The U.K. is far from being a democracy.
So, effectively, what I pay in tax goes straight to a body who exist contrary to my wishes, and they spend it however they see fit. I'd far rather it went to the health service, education etc, but large chunks of it go to the military against my personal wishes. Therefore I deny culpability for deaths caused by the military.
EJ