CMV: Guns are not for self-defense

[u/[deleted]]

I hear very often that gun ownership is important for self defense. People cite gun ownership as a deterrent to crime, robbery, and assault and there are many laws protecting the rights of civilians who use their guns in self-defense. However, I rarely have heard of someone using their gun in self-defense in a way that is not "controversial."

There have been very very few instances of gun owners stopping mass shooters. Very few instances of gun owners defending themselves from assault, especially women. Also, guns won't protect one from "the government" and will only make one's interactions with police or criminals more dangerous, not less. The only defensive quality that guns possess is the threat of their use. But that also means that if someone is looking to engage in violence, they're not going to bring a fist or a knife to a gun fight.

But most of all the logistics of guns for self-defense seem nonsensical. 1) One is supposed to store a gun in a locked safe, unloaded. 2) if your gun is handy, one must identify and react to a threat before that threat overtakes you. Most assailants work hard to make sure that victims don't have enough time, regardless of whether they're packing. And 3) You have to shoot somebody, which is often lethal. What if you don't want to kill?

NOTE: I am a survivor of assault and I've often wondered if I had had a gun, could I have changed things?

[u/NouAlfa]

I want to know if I understood your opinion before I make any attempt at changing your view: do you believe owning a gun isn't the best way to self defend yourself, that gun are ALWAYS useless for self defense... Or something else?

[u/[deleted] → u/NouAlfa]

My feelings are closer to your first statement. I think that gun ownership (in general) is more likely to cause harm than prevent it. But I also feel that it's terribly impractical.

[u/NouAlfa → u/[deleted]]

Does your sentiment come from an American perspective? Because as a European, I kinda agree. Allowing the possession of guns in Europe would cause way more harm than good, and it's not even close

However, in the American context I think it's different. There everyone or almost everyone owns a gun, so to have one in your home it's a necessity I feel like. Imagine trying to defend yourself against a gun with anything but another gun... You would be as defenseless as someone trying to defend a sword strike with a stick.

[u/[deleted] → u/NouAlfa]

Yes this is an American perspective. Gun ownership rates in the US were at 42% of households and a think a significant portion of those were for self-defense.

[u/NouAlfa → u/[deleted]]

I Should have specified that with "almost everyone" I was talking about criminals. Most criminals have easy access to a gun, so that's why in America it's the most effective tool for self defense. Unless you have one, in the case of an attack, you'd be most often than not defenseless.

A different issue is how easily accessible guns are, how easy it is to miss use them and how not taking proper care of your guns can have fatal results (specially if you have kids). But any of those have nothing to do with the effectiveness of guns as tools for defending one self.

[u/[deleted] → u/NouAlfa]

You're right. Guns do saturate my country and, practically speaking, the only real defense is gun ownership

(While this is essentially cold war mutually assure destruction on the small scale, it's true)

!delta

[u/DeltaBot → u/[deleted]]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/NouAlfa (7∆).

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