zlacker

Guns themselves don't kill people, but they make it highly efficient. Guns are tools, they create or enhance capabilities and as such they can be judged based on the probable outcomes of their usage.

>>hackin+(OP)
[Spoons] themselves don't [make people fat], but they make it highly efficient. [Spoons] are tools, they create or enhance capabilities and as such they can be judged based on the outcomes of their usage.

>>marknu+p
I see you saw my comment before my "probable" edit :). The purpose of spoons are to feed. The probability of getting fat as a consequence of using a spoon is small. The purpose of guns is to make killing efficient.

>>marknu+p
So perhaps you'd like your neighbor to acquire a nuke or smallpox-based vaccine. Sure, he's a great guy and will never use these things, and besides, nukes have plenty of other purposes in a household. Their primary reason is totally not for killing people, so this is all good, right?

>>marknu+p
That's actually true. There is a wealth of research that shows that things like having larger spoons and larger bowls causes people to eat more and therefore get fatter.

Similarly, is taking a crazy person's gun away going to stop them trying to kill people? Probably not, but it'll be much harder for them to kill anyone.

>>hackin+33
People don't buy guns to "kill people", they buy guns to defend themselves. Most people who own guns would prefer to never have to use them.

>>IgorPa+I3
Let's not resort to reductio ad absurdum arguments, please. There's plenty of rationale arguments that you could have made instead. No one's suggesting that people should be allowed to keep nuclear bombs in their homes, and your metaphor is untenable.

>>marknu+K4
> they buy guns to defend themselves

Or to hunt. Or for sport.

>>marknu+K4
The majority of countries that own nuclear weapons have them for "defense". Would you say that absolves the technology from moral condemnation?

>>davidc+f6
Well, I do see someone suggesting that spoons and guns are functionally equivalent, and that if we regulate guns we must regulate spoons.

But you are right, no reason to resort to this.

>>NickPo+C4
Well then we have the answer to our obesity epidemic, don't we?

>>IgorPa+69
You're right. The spoons argument isn't any better. Thank you for being level-headed enough to see that instead of arguing.

People are understandably upset about what happened and emotions are getting the best of people. I guess today isn't a good day for rationale debate.