Do Guns Save Lives or Take Them?

It is a question that bears asking. The answer you will get is wholly dependent on the perspective of the person you are asking. From the perspective of the National Rifle Association, they would say that guns save lives and claiming that a gun never killed anyone. From the political left, you will find the exact opposite response. Guns take lives, and a gun alone never saved anyone. 

I posit that both of these views are correct and both are incorrect. To explain, we must first think about what a firearm actually is. First and foremost, a firearm is a tool. Granted it is a tool originally designed for warfare, and thus to kill, but it is a tool nonetheless. As a tool, it is morally neutral in itself, and is actually inert, posing no threat to anyone, whether for good purpose or ill.  For a gun, or any other tool, to have an effect it must first be wielded and put to an end. You can use a silver hammer in the practice of medicine, or if your name is Maxwell, it can be used to bash someone’s skull in. Whether it is used for either purpose depends on the intent and will of the user. The same is true of guns. So do guns kill? No, but a person can use a gun to that end. Do guns save lives? No, but it can be put to that purpose by a responsible gun owner. 

That being said, we see a problem with gun violence in the United States. No amount of gun legislation will bring and end to this problem, because gun legislation does nothing to address the cause of the problem, but rather, focuses on the means. To reduce gun violence, we need to do a few things:

• Enforce the existing gun legislation: There are plenty of laws to keep guns out of the worng hands, so lets prosecute violators.
• Educate: Gun deaths from accidental shootings will be reduced by properly educating gun owners on safe handling and storage of firearms
• Reform: I see the value of an armed populace, so lets see to it that anyone who is no danger to himself, his family or society at large can own a weapon if they desire. The firearms ban for convicted felons that have shown themselves to have reformed is a bit heavy handed. If he can own a crossbow, why not a gun. Both are lethal.

Agian, it is not the gun that is the problem, but the person. Rather than addressing the means, we need to get to the source of the problem, which is the person behind the weapon.