The problem of needing all the guns you could get to defend your family is that it seems that in societies that are heavily armed, there is some kind of a vicious cycle created, where violent behavior in general is escalated. In England or Ireland, for example, it is almost unheard of that a regular good citizen would be assaulted by anyone with a gun, because handguns are illegal there. However, in America it is very common, as is killing family members, friends and acquaintances during arguments, or accidentally, with guns.
This argument about guns basically boils down to whether the COMMON GOOD is still an important social precept. Societies function not only for the individuals in them, but for the whole, as well. From the much lower rates of gun deaths in countries where handguns are illegal or very rare, certainly it would seem to indicate that the common good is served by that policy. But America is so preoccupied with the rights of the individual that the ideal of the common good is secondary. Frankly, I think that my freedom to walk down the street in relative safety is a very important one, and that has been abridged totally by the level of crime in this society. If guns in private hands protect citizens against crime, how come there is so much of it? |
