[Cerek]

Originally posted by Stratos: As some others have expressed before, no one will be able to convinced me that guns aren't designed to kill. That's their entire purpose, to harm or kill living organism. Saying otherwise is, IMHO, just obscuring an uncomfortable fact. What we then use the gun for is a differerent matter, but the arms industry ain't spending millions of dollars on R&D and production of guns for us to shot empty beer cans with.

Well I personally agree with VulcanRiders definition - that a gun is designed to put a metal projectile through a chosen target. And it is up to the individual to determine what that target should be. Millions of dollars is spent on R&D simply because we Americans DO love our guns in a variety of shapes, sizes and powers.

But even if you and others want to insist that the intended purpose of guns is to harm or kill other people, I and others have shown that it CAN be used for other purposes. And the fact is that the VAST majority of guns owners in America do NOT use their guns for this so called "intended purpose".

Guns DO have other purposes BESIDES inflicting injury on another person. So banning guns based on the presumption that inflicting injury is the primary purpose is nothing more than reactionary legislation that seeks to blame the object rather than the PERSON for the actions the owner takes. And it also fully supports VulcanRiders original point - that many objects CAN be used to inflict injury even if this is not their "intended purpose". IF we are going to ban guns because they are designed to harm other people, then we would have no choice but to ban all these other tools with designs that can harm other people.

ORRRRRRRRRR we could actually try placing the blame solely on the PERSON who inflicts the harm instead of blaming the object he/she used.