Puppyroach said:
EricHiggin said:
People used to kill each other with sticks n stones. Then they moved onto bows n arrows and swords. Now guns. Take away the guns, and they'll just revert to using sharp metal objects again. Yes, the people who plan to shoot n run and get away with it, will now think twice, but people like the Las Vegas shooter, clearly were all in, and in that case people are going to be injured or killed regardless.
Weapons themselves don't kill people. People kill people.
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How many mass killings do we have with a single criminal killing tens of people with sticks and stones, knifes or slingshots? Of course it's not the weapon that kill peolpe (sentient weapons would be quite scary 😉) but there is a reasons it's called a weapon, because its purpose is to be used as a weapon against other people.
But if you can show that the US had numerous amounts of mass killings with, for example knives, in the past, please share.
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I'm sure I could find some examples, which probably wouldn't be all that easy in terms of comparison, but whether or not they would be taken seriously is the question. The odds of me showing an incident where 20 people were killed or injured with something other than a gun, and people just saying that doesn't matter because it's a much smaller number than most gun incidents, is quite likely. That's not the point though. What constitutes as a "mass event" also needs to be well defined first.
The fact that finding incidents with high numbers of death and injury using weapons other than guns would be harder, is also do to the fact that guns exist and have for a very long time. It would be like saying, prove to me that people only hunt to eat and survive in today's world. I know I could find a rare example or two, and that's because we have a system where hunting is not necessary in today's world. If you banned the entire market system for food however, everyone would have no choice but to hunt again. The large majority of the population (first world) don't specifically hunt to survive today, just like how mass murderer's will typically use a gun, because it's the most efficient weapon available. If you took that away, they would just use the next best thing, until we ban everything right down to sticks n stones.
Just look at medieval times. Bows n arrows, swords n shield's. Millions died by blades and arrows because that was the best possible weapon at the time, and not just in war. Now we have guns. Take those guns away, and those killers have no choice but to use the next best weapon. You have to remember, this isn't just your everyday criminal we're talking about. This is the worst case scenario, mass murder, type of killer. They are going to hurt many people one way or another, no matter how much planning, or what weapons it takes. Sure, you can say, well at least less people will get hurt, but how many is acceptable and at what cost to everyone else? When that soon becomes the norm, then what? Same thing happens as always. We're not satisfied with the lesser amount of death's, so we ban whatever weapon has become the new killing utensil of choice, and so on. It literally never ends.
How many people in the military have killed their own brothers or sisters in arms on purpose? Very few, and that's because these people are mentally healthy enough to be trusted with weapons, yet very rarely, that worst case scenario still happens. The all encompassing answer is to make sure everyone is mentally healthy, but we all know that's next to impossible, so do we take away all potential weapons as the second best way to solve that problem? If it's as simple as just the guns, then maybe. It's not that simple though. It never is. We put up guard rails and bollards for cars, add airbags, yet people still get hurt and die. We can try all we want to better the situation, but stopping mass killings altogether only happens in the movies (Minority Report).
Life is either a planned out scenario where you have no choice and play it out in reality, or it's a game of choice and chance, from start to finish. Either way, what happens, happens, and sometimes, it's unfortunate. There's nothing wrong with trying to make life better, but all options must be weighed when doing so, and quite often what people end up finding is, greater sacrifices end up being made by the many to help the few. The movies are something that get's this right most of the time. The few giving everything to save the many. They tend to try and allow them to live so everyone feels good about themselves, but that's where the movies and reality differ. Life often ends in tragedy, but usually for the greater good. It sucks, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.