Lots of people in the media (especially in the US) say lots of things about guns. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
- Killing people is bad. One should try to avoid killing people as much as possible.
- Guns are, fundamentally, designed for killing people (some may be sold for other purposes but killing people is what guns were invented for).
- Because of (1) and (2) there is something inherently quite distateful about guns.
- So it is understandable that many people dislike guns and don't want to own one or be around people who have them.
- There are some types of weapons (such as nuclear weapons) which no individual should be allowed to own.
- There are some types of weapons (such as kitchen knives) which any non-incarcerated adult should be allowed to own.
- Not all weapons fall into categories (5) or (6).
- There are some people (those with criminal pasts, unsound minds or who are just not sufficiently responsible) who should not be allowed to own guns. Loopholes which allow them to obtain them legally should be closed.
- It would be impossible to ban all private gun ownership in the USA.
- When a national government bans all its citizens from doing something which was previously allowed and widely practiced, this is usually a bad thing.
- Because of (9) and (10), some people should be allowed to own certain types of gun.
- Even those who have had lots of training in the safe and proper use of guns sometimes make mistakes and shoot someone who is not a threat.
- Some criminals are not afraid of death, and will commit mass murder even knowing that doing so will get them killed.
- In practice, most of the people who want to own a gun and should be allowed to own one probably own one already.
- Because of (3), (8), (11), (12), (13) and (14), arming everybody is not a solution to gun crime not even practical (no matter how much some gun enthusiasts would like it to be.
- As it is in the interests to gun sellers to sell as many guns as possible, it should not be up to the gun sellers to determine who should be allowed to own a gun.
- It would be difficult but possible to prevent most of the people who should not be allowed to have guns from having them, to reduce the number of guns in the hands of people who should not have them, and to reduce the number of gun deaths (accidental and deliberate) in the USA.
Another thought I had about this recently: In some senses, gun ownership is already de facto illegal (and has incredibly harsh penalties), even if it is technically legal. If a police officer thinks you have a gun and feels threatened by you, he can shoot you dead (effectively acting as judge, jury and executioner for the "crime" of gun ownership) and suffer no legal consequences. This is a risk for all gun owners (and, to a lesser extent, gun non-owners) whether or not the gun is "by the book" legal.