Defending one’s home from burglars and being able to have a revolution do seem to be the two arguments you hear from pro-gun Americans.
To the first point, do people really feel that under siege? Are your houses being broken into all over the place? Are Americans really that afraid of each other? I’ve never understood this. It’s like people think they live in a war zone, or the wild west - like their homes are surrounded by murderous hordes ready to murder them as they sleep.
As I understand the statistics, there are only 500 or 600 homicides resulting from home invasion in the States. That’s a lot, but in a country of over 300,000,000 people it’s still not that many. And, what’s more, apparently a third of those deaths are the result of the homeowner’s gun! Either they accidentally shoot themselves, or the burglar gets their gun and shoots them.
I understand that the people who actually do experience dangerous home invasions would probably wish they had a gun if they didn’t have one. No doubt. But I don’t accept the argument that everyone having guns prevents crime. I think it just makes criminals prepare for that. It might deter teenagers from breaking into garages on a lark, but I don’t think it would deter professional criminals. Presumably, they would also get guns and work in bigger groups. Whether you have a gun or not, you’re unlikely to be able to “take out” 3 or 4 armed intruders.
I also don’t accept the argument that criminals would still have guns like they do now. If it’s impossible to buy automatic weapons, then where would criminals get them? Look at Mexico. There’s a huge drug war being fought on the border with the US, and it’s largely being fought with weapons smuggled in from the US. Smuggled into Mexico! In Canada too. A lot of our gun crime is committed with guns smuggled in from the States.
I think the fact that criminals have military assault rifles, or easily concealable fully-automatic handguns, is because they are being mass manufactured and because they are available in shops.
As for the revolution argument, a previous poster covered that. I also find it curious that pro-gun Americans seem to consider this a serious prospect. Most other Western countries have banned or seriously restricted firearms, but the rest of us seem to be doing fine.
Basically, I just don’t understand the mindset at all. That being said, I agree that having a gun does not make one commit a crime. However, I think that the price ordinary people pay for having easy access to serious weaponry is very high.