I quite obviously did not say that the "sole purpose" of handguns was to kill people. I did say, however, that it is the primary purpose, and your own posts confirm the statement.
The number of bodies is irrelevant to the goals driving the design of the weapon. As I noted above: the driving design principle for handguns is to kill things -- people, mostly -- at short range. And of course, most people do buy handguns to give themselves the ability to kill other people. (That is what "self defense" boils down to, after all.)
The fact that there are not millions of handgun deaths simply shows that most people are not particularly keen to actually use the weapon for killing. That does not alter the fact that a handguns is designed to do just that, should the gun owner decide to fire it at somebody.
I wasn't paying attention to posters names and was responding to the above post from rabidone without realizing that you had chimed in.
Handguns not made for hunting, TW. They are designed for killing things at close range.
I dissagree with this statement of yours.
I have several handguns that are designed specifically for hunting, one which I seldom take a shot at less than 100 yards. I can consistently kill deer and other game at this distance. And a 22 cal revolver I've had since '68 isn't much for self defence but with a 9.5 onch bbl, its deadly for squirrels and rabbits.
Possibility does not equal intent!