Anubis- couldn't resist

Posh-

While a firearm was indeed designed to take life (as were all projectile weapons from crude spears and slingshots up to modern firearms), there are two sides of the coin.

One is a malicious usage, which governments and individuals have exercised freely since the beginning of time. I've had family marched into camps because the only ones with guns were the government at the time and their only crime trying to help a minority population. They are not "deader" because they were shot in 1943 vice being run through with a sword 600 years ago. The weapon used to take life is meaningless, it is the act itself that carries gravity.

The other, while still involving the ending of human life, allows an innocent to live. Again, the taking of life is not pleasant but if one were to choose between an innocent and an attacker, I would greatly prefer the attacker to no longer be walking this planet.

The firearm has become the equalizer, allowing the weak to stand against the strong. It allows the few to stand against the many. The US Air Force Pararescue have a saying "So that others may live". Quite appropriate.

While the utopian vision of world peace is indeed admirable, I feel it is unattainable at least in my lifetime. Whether it is a tweaker on the street or a nation-state, someone will always be willing to attempt to take by force that which is yours/ours. The best defensive option is a firearm, which is why our police are armed with them.

If one were to rid the entire planet of anything that could possibly be used as a weapon (we're all butt naked on a field of uninterrupted tungsten), someone will inevitably attack another. This is human nature unfortunately. I do not see this changing anytime in my life, nor within the century, barring any paradigm shifts in the human psyche. There will still be kidnappers, rapists and murderers.

I would prefer to survive an encounter with any of the above, and the best tool (not the ONLY tool) to do so is a firearm.

As for a child with a firearm, you posted numerous pictures of children soldiers as well as children with toy firearms. The difference between those children and mine is circumstance. My son was lucky enough to be born in the US, where he has no need to fight wars at 10 years of age. My son was lucky enough to be born to parents who instill a sense of personal responsibility for his actions be they positive or negative. My son was lucky enough to have parents who have taught him not to hate another person based on religion, skin color or sexual orientation and to respect differing opinions. The children in your pictures do not share his fortune.

There is a world of difference between a child soldier, a future terrorist being indoctrinated and a father teaching his son to hunt or target shoot. One fights for his life, one fights out of hatred and one does not fight.