Originally Posted by tore

I'm convinced that when society endorses or even encourages the acquisition and use of guns for anything but hunting animals, that will generally speaking promote violence. Weapons made to scare, defend against or even kill people become a part of society and people's lives more so than they would otherwise, even to the people who don't own them, for example because they feel they might run into someone else who does. It changes the way people interact and think about eachother and even if that change in one individual is very slight, when it affects everyone, it can have a measurable effect.