Gun ownership is a double-edged sword.
On one hand, it's fantasitc to own a gun in America. In my 4 person family, we own 3 shotguns, 3 assault rifles, 2+ handguns, 2 bolt action rifles, and maybe another .22 caliber rifle.
Having that kind of firepower is alot of fun - target shooting is a blast when your using an M-16 clone, in which I can hit a soda pop can easily from 150 meters (yards) in 1 shot, very easily.
Hunting is also great - deer in Ohio, my home state, are very large - you can go hunting with a shotgun, and in 1 shot (about 20 cents), you can bag a deer that has 200lbs of meat. Great value, even when processed.
Then there's the self-defense part of it, both from the government and the home part.
But on the opposite side, firearm crime is higher than most other countries, merely because even with restrictions they are still rather accesible.
So there are arguments on both sides of the spectrumn.
American culture is VERY different than any other country, which is why we have very free gun laws. Our country is bigger, and more rural than most any other - increasing the hunting aspect of gun ownership. Ohio is huge on deer hunting, since if we did not do it, deer would get horrible diseases from overpopulation, and damage alot of crops in the state, and hurt other animal populations.
Also, we violently rebelled against a repressive British government comprising our military of a large portion of militia, and various aspects of citizen/soldiers. Americans are vastly more profiecent in the military from a base point of view, because of that revolution, and the various struggles we've had over the years. Gun ownership has played a huge part in this.
And of course, we have self-defense reasons as well. American states that have recently introduced the Castle Docterine into state law have seen strong drops in crime rates, showing even further that an armed society with concealed guns creates a safe society.
Lets ask this simple question: would a person attempt to rob, rape, steal, or any sort of crime of those sorts if he knew the victim was going to kill them? Gun ownership creates problems like that for criminals.
America is a violent country, not because of our guns, but because of our people. When you have a society that blends hundreds of cultures together, problems occur. Guns just happen to be there for some to use for major problems.
Not only this, as long as Americans are responsible in their gun ownership, we have fewer problems - I was trained with a gun when I was 5 years old. Guess what? We've never had any gun-related issues in my family. In fact, I'd venture to say it's nearly impossible for any issues to occur in a family where the family took a strong stance on the responsibility of gun ownership.
Feel free to not own guns in whatever countries you live in, but guns are here forever - ban them, burn them, throw them away. But as long as you have evil people, you will have powerful devices of destruction. You don't avoid crime by avoiding guns. You avoid crime by avoiding creating criminals.
And on a end note: why does Switzerland, a country with one of the highest gun ownership rates have one of the lowest crime rates in the world?
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
