Hippie wrote:
I don't see the relevance of the reason why there are military style weapons in most the homes, as a special case.
I guess I didn't make myself clear. Switzerland is a special case because, despite the large number of firearms in the house, they usually aren't there for the purpose of self-defense, sport, or hunting, as they are in the US. And AFAIK, not many of them are handguns. So while there are a higher number of guns per capita than in other European countries, there isn't the "gun culture" that Americans have. Maybe we should be thinking, "The Swiss seem to be handling their gun problem quite well. How can we make our system more like theirs?"
Isn't that the point? So my wife has a chance against three guys with machetes in the living room at 3 AM?
No argument there. But I was trying to explain why guns are more lethal than other weapons. If your wife is accosted by three guys with machetes in the living room at 3 AM (and, by the way, does that happen a lot in your neighborhood, Rob?), then I would hope she has a handgun. Or better yet, a shotgun. Double barreled. Easier to aim, makes a big boom, alerts the neighbors, etc. It may be a little harder on the wallpaper, but life is full of trade-offs.
I’ll admit this was an anecdotal case, but the fact remains that far more lives are saved by the presence of guns in the hands of the potential victims, than are ever discharged.
If you're talking about criminal activities such as robbery or assault being thwarted, then maybe you've got a case, although it would be tough to really quantify that, i think. My own impression is that those guns aren't really effective unless they're actually brandished and the would-be assailant doesn't have the firepower to match it. If you have statistics that bear out what you say, from a source that doesn't have a vested interest in promoting handguns, I'll be happy to say I'm wrong.
JLT wrote:We were talking about risks in the home, not on the street. Very few people suffer fatal automobile accidents in their homes...
What is the motivation for narrowing the accident discussions to the home? My point remains valid.
Because the original comment that I was responding to was about a health survey about potential dangers in the home (of which the presence of handguns was one). I felt that your reference to car accidents and car ownership, whatever its merits, fell outside the range of that comment.
Well, I'll be traveling for a few days, and probably won't be able to access the Internet from where I am (I am not the most "connected" guy you've met). I hope that this discussion continues and that y'all will do your best to see that it doesn't degenerate into the sort of name-calling and finger-pointing that has marked most of the Internet's discussion of guns and gun control. I'm counting on you guys.