dumb argument Wrote:
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> First, automobiles are HEAVILY regulated and
> taxed-their manufacture, use, everything. So right
> there comparisons between the two might end
>
> Second, if cars were made "illegal", our economy
> would stop immediately. Immediately. Not so with
> guns.
>
> As a matter of fact, you could regulate guns to
> the point that only cops and the military had
> them, and, there would be only the smallest dent
> in the economy-that being from the gun buying
> public.
>
> Bottom line, cars have sooo much more utility to
> people vs the lives they might take (accidental or
> otherwise), vs the utility guns have to people vs
> the lives they take (on purpose or otherwise).
>
> Try another thought
First, firearms are much more heavily regulated than cars. They are taxed and regulated at each step of the process, including ownership. A convicted felon can own a car, but not a gun.
Arguing that we should accept the deaths caused by automobile use because cars are economically profitable to our society is a morally questionable position. How much is a life worth? But if you insist, guns save lives as shown here:
https://www.justfactsdaily.com/how-often-do-citizens-use-guns-to-stop-violence/
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For instance, the above-cited 1995 paper was based on a survey of 4,977 households, which found that at least 0.5% of households over the previous five years had members who had used a gun for defense during a situation in which they thought someone “almost certainly would have been killed” if they “had not used a gun for protection.” Applied to the U.S. population using standard scientific methods, this amounts to at least 162,000 saved lives per year, excluding all “military service, police work, or work as a security guard.”
Since this data is from the 1990s and is based on people’s subjective views of what would have happened if they did not use a gun, it should be taken with a grain of salt. However, the same survey found that the number of people who used a gun for self-defense was about six times greater than the number who said that using the gun “almost certainly” saved a life. This amounts to at least 1,029,615 defensive gun uses per year, including those in which lives were saved and those of lesser consequence.
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Other peer reviewed studies place the number at 2-3 million times a year that a crime is prevented by a gun owner. Guns have every bit as many positives to offer society as cars.
There are over 300 million guns in the US owned by 60-80 million people. They are used daily for legal activities (hunting, sports, recreation) Less than 1% will be used in a crime. Why don't you go after the bad guys instead of taking cheap shots at law abiding citizens who just happen to disagree with you?
The democrat party has been Jim Crowing people they disagree with for 1.5 centuries. Now they think it's gun owners turn. It was reprehensible when they were doing it to blacks; it's no less reprehensible when they do it to gun owners.