Should people be allowed to own fire arms? (guns)

Many thanks to Pro for her opening argument! Before I present my constructive case, I would like to point out that is that there has been a slight change in the definition of the word "people", agreed upon by both me and my opponent in the comments section-- it is now defined as 'the general public', meaning that exceptions *are* made for the military and for local police units. Also note that the resolution is not specific to the United States, so Constitutionality arguments shouldn't hold any weight. I will work to negate the resolution by showing that, on balance, a gun ban would be beneficial for society, and should thus be enforced. The most obvious benefit a gun ban would have is a decrease in homicide rates. This seems quite intuitive-- if people don't have weapons that make it easy to commit homicides, less homicides will occur. I will go ahead and pre-empt what seems to be a very common response by opponents of the gun ban... >> "Guns don't kill people! People kill people!" << Some gun rights activists falsely claim that even if guns were banned, people would just find "other ways" to kill people. If this were true, then cities with lower rates of gun availability would have the same homicide rates as cities with higher rates of gun availability (because according to the quoted logic, the gun-less would simply find other ways to murder). However, this is not the case at all; instead, there is a clear upwards correlation between gun availability and homicide rates. "We analyzed the relationship between homicide and gun availability using data from 26 developed countries from the early 1990s. We found that across developed countries, where guns are more available, there are more homicides. These results often hold even when the United States is excluded." [1] "Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the US, where there are more guns, both men and women are at higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide." [2] "Using survey data on rates of household gun ownership, we examined the association between gun availability and homicide across states, 2001-2003. We found that states with higher levels of household gun ownership had higher rates of firearm homicide and overall homicide. This relationship held for both genders and all age groups, after accounting for rates of aggravated assault, robbery, unemployment, urbanization, alcohol consumption, and resource deprivation (e.g., poverty). There was no association between gun prevalence and non-firearm homicide." [3] "Access to firearms yields a more than five-fold increase in risk of intimate partner homicide when considering other factors of abuse, according to a recent study, suggesting that abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners." [4] There is no denying it-- the prevalence of guns has a direct relationship to higher homicide rates. Guns simply facilitate killings that wouldn't typically happen without them. Due to their ease of use, long range, and other features, guns make murder *much* easier to commit; their mere presence can allow for what normally would have been a heated argument or fist fight to turn into a homicide." [4] In conclusion, a gun ban would definitely result in a substantial net benefit for society, and since the role of government is to ensure general welfare, the enforcement of a gun ban is necessitated-- people should not be allowed to own guns. I would have liked to pre-empt other common arguments against a gun ban, such as the "Criminals still have guns!" and the "I need to defend my rights!" arguments, but I'm a bit short on time, so I'll leave it at that... The resolution is negated. Your turn, Pro! ^_^ ____________________________________________________________________________ [1] Hemenway, David; Miller, Matthew. Firearm availability and homicide rates across 26 high income countries. Journal of Trauma. 2000; 49:985-88. [2] Hepburn, Lisa; Hemenway, David. Firearm availability and homicide: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal. 2004; 9:417-40. [3] Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Hemenway, David. State-level homicide victimization rates in the U.S. in relation to survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001-2003. Social Science and Medicine. 2007; 64:656-64. [4] Jacquelyn C. Campbell et al., Risk Factors For Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results From A Multi-Site Case Control Study, 93 Am. J. of Public Health 1089, 1092 (2003),