Quote:
Originally Posted by d2_e4
My overarching point is, it's an argument that is often trotted out in opposition to the argument that guns are exclusively used to injure or kill other people, but in reality, in America, only a negligible % of them are actually used for other purposes.
I'm on your side of this issue but this is just implausible to me. If anything, I think the number of people who own guns with the intention of firing them at other people is the negligible group, unless you are considering people who buy them for home defense to be in that group. I don't think that's really fair because I do not think most people who buy guns for home defense expect to ever have to use them. And even if we argue they have an "intent" to fire them at people, it's not really fair to lump them in with people who intend to commit crimes.
My understanding is that most gun owners own them for some combination of self defense (people with concealed carry permits), home defense, and as a hobby (i.e. shooting them at a firing range for fun, collecting). There's a smaller, but quite substantial group in the midwest, south, and rural parts of other states, that uses guns for hunting, but those are typically not handguns.
All of the above are "legitimate" reasons to own a gun that do not just amount to "I wanna go **** someone up with this!" I do not think any of the above rise to the level of importance to make gun ownership a legitimate right or to outweigh our interest in public safety, but it's not really fair to say gun owners are just kooks or criminals.