SHOOTING at the OLYMPICS

[Outlaw]

Originally Posted by JG4_Helofly

The main problem I see with firearmes is escalation. That's what Bewolf wrote. When stuff like "home defense" with guns is common, then criminals will prepare for that and bring their own.
As a Swiss, I am always amazed how scared americans seem to be. Over here, I know not a single person who feels threatened to a point where he would feel the need for a gun in order to defend himself. The governement is also not seen as a threat.

I know a woman who was raped, beaten, and left for dead. My sister was stabbed in the back by an attempted rapist. I witnessed a bar room murder where the weapon of choice was a beer mug. There were no firearms involved in ANY of the above cases and there are TENS OF THOUSANDS OF THESE EVERY YEAR. Criminals DO NOT NEED GUNS TO INJURE AND/OR KILL.

You state that, "...I know not a single person who feels threatened to a point where he would feel the need for a gun in order to defend himself...". In response, I ask, what is the intended method of defense if the need arises? Is the entire population of Switzerland so bad-ass that they can kick the crap out of anyone that attacks them? Are violent crimes non-existent in your country?

There are TENS OF MILLIONS of Americans who are just as helpless against an unarmed attacker as they are against an armed one. The thought that criminals without guns are less dangerous at an individual level is just so far below the level of stupid that it can't even be described.

In 2010 there were 778,901 violent assaults. 405077 of those were committed with no weapon at all or with something other than a knife or firearm. That's ALMOST HALF A MILLION PEOPLE violently attacked without a firearm or knife used by the attacker.

I can't find a statistic, but, for arguments sake let's say that only 25% of those assaults resulted in significant injury. That's 101269 people. Let's say, 1% for permanent injury...4050 people. Those percentages are just guesses on my part. Feel free to show more accurate numbers if you have them.

Regardless, it is clearly obvious that there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of significant injuries caused by attackers without weapons every year.

If you want to play the averages and feel that it's better for you to get your ass kicked than to protect yourself, that's great. Or, if you're such a bad-ass that you are invulnerable to any form of physical assault, that's great too.

But, as I've said before, don't force me to be one of the others that aren't in one of the above categories.

--Outlaw.