I guess it depends on the gun. A Remington 700 bolt action is primarily used for hunting and long distance target shooting. (yes, I know it is an effective sniper rifle but for every sniper who’s ever used it there are a thousand hunters who use it) A Colt 1911 .45 ACP or M16 (AR-15) are primarily designed and used for self defense or offensive actions against other people. Yes, you could hunt small game with an AR-15 but there are much better alternatives.
A better response would be “Yeah - so what?”.
They make it possible for my 87-year-old widowed mother, and others like her, to efffectively defend themselves from those more powerful, more numerous and less-principled than themselves.
Pedantic.
Deterrence only works if the threat is viable; handguns & ICBMs are only a deterrent if the would-be deteree believes the tool actually designed & capable of inflicting great harm.
There’s nothing wrong with admitting that some guns are, in fact, designed & owned for the ultimate purpose (even if never used) to kill people.
Well, when I'm carrying they do give me an added sense of self confidence and security. So maybe they have something in common with a good haircut, a new shirt... Hmm, to improve my self confidence I guess I could lose a few pounds, or get another carry gun? ;-) We all know which one of those will be easier...
Why do liberal politicians feel its OK to send automatic weapons and rocket launchers to neanderthals living in the 3rd century ruled by kings and war for several millennia? To people that kill their own family members for pride and honor, but insist that I am not responsible enough to have even one gun?
In the words of an old US patent on a firearm, it was...”A MACHINE FOR THROWING BALLS.”
Lead balls.
Neither were hammers, baseball bats, knives, cars etc....
What the Hoplophobes will never accept is that there is a small but significant portion of the human race who NEED killing and it is the duty of mature human being to protect themselves and others from these people.
A firearm is merely a tool for doing this.
COL Cooper said a firearm is a tool with which one gains control of one’s environment.
They are designed mostly for killing, at least in the early days of firearms, but not only people. But so what?
The audience the author would wish for will neither read nor comprehend the finer points of the piece.
Guns kill people,
pencils misspell words,
cars drive drunk &
spoons make you fat.
Using a firearm is nothing more, nothing less than throwing a rock. A lead rock, at distances and speeds the human arm is incapable of reaching.
Accuracy is still wholly dependent on the skill of the user/thrower.