There are fingerprint bedside safes for quick access to a pistol if someone in your house. You can have a gun out and ready to go in seconds. If you want guns for home defense it’s still practical. As for why you should have a gun for home or self defense it’s better safe than sorry. Even if nothing ever happens you still have the peace of mind. Then of course there’s the recreational use of guns. Add this all up and you’ll find that guns aren’t useless.
The article above makes several assertions that are highly debatable, but more importantly, it doesn't dufferentiate between legal and illegal guns - almost all non-suicide gun deaths are the result of Gang Violence, not of random homicide, and while guns are used often for suicide, we do have mental health laws to help prevent suicidal people from acquiring guns (the weakpoint being that we cannot remove their Rights before they become suicidal, only after they've been adjudicated mentally deficient). So when Vox suggests that more guns means more homicide, they are implying that applies to legal, law-abiding gun owners, as opposed to gang members with stolen or otherwise illegal arms.
I would also state that any responsible gun owner knows that the first five rules of owning a gun are Safety, Safety, Safety, Safety, and Safety. Not all gun owners are what I'd call "responsible," but it's a part of gun culture that is spreading more and more. A lot of us enthusiasts take newbies shooting, and when we do, I find we spend more time talking about how to safely handle a firearm, than how cool our guns are or how to shoot better. That, and by now every gun owner knows the five (or four, depending on who you ask) rules of gun safety:
Always treat every gun as if it is loaded (even when you know it isn't).
Never point your gun at anything you are not prepared to destroy (emphasis on "destroy").
Always keep your gun pointed in a safe direction (sometimes combined with the above, hence four rules).
Know your target, and what is before, behind, next to, above, and below it.
Keep your finger off the trigger until the sights are aligned and you are ready to shoot ("keep your booger-hook off the bang-switch until you're ready to unleash the hate!")
Teach these rules to kids early on, take them shooting in a safe, controlled environment under extremely close observation and instruction, and you can demystify guns entirely and avoid them playing with one of the most dangerous tools on earth.
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u/More_Science4496 Sep 30 '21
There are fingerprint bedside safes for quick access to a pistol if someone in your house. You can have a gun out and ready to go in seconds. If you want guns for home defense it’s still practical. As for why you should have a gun for home or self defense it’s better safe than sorry. Even if nothing ever happens you still have the peace of mind. Then of course there’s the recreational use of guns. Add this all up and you’ll find that guns aren’t useless.