Gun Bans

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes ... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." -- Thomas Jefforson... In R1 I said the quote was of George Washington, felt that it need be corrected. A) My opponent fails to refute Justice Breyer, he says that "Aside from the gun ban, like demographics, economics and the drug trade were almost certainly in play". You realize these issues still remain "in play" today right? And if you are correct, then you are adding to my argument. In your argument you openly suggest that the economy and drug traffic have a role in gun violence, you then suggest that when these things happen in a gun ban, gun crime goes up. You then say "if allowed, lawmakers may find a way to reduce gun violence.".... I point you to the beginning, it didn't work! We must not linger on failed ideas that are proven to make things worse! It is almost as if you are saying, lets try this and see if it works. My friend, we are talking about lives! It has been proven time and time again that gun bans are linked to higher murder rates. Lives are something you cannot experiment with until you get it right! B) According to my opponent's situations, we must assume the following: PoeJoe is a criminal. - Correct He is strong enough to kick the door in - Correct He has sneaked out of the house without his parents discovering where he went. - Speculation, no evidence. He bought or stole a gun. - Speculation, no evidence. He doesn't care about stealing or killing. - Correct He has a car or the house is nearby. - Speculation, no evidence. He's crazy. - Incorrect, refuted. "gun pointed on him, he runs out of your home." Obviously has a clear state of mind. Situation 1 (With Gun): You grab the handgun; the criminal sees you have a gun pointed on him, and the criminal shoots you first. Very unlikely, PoeJoe has a goal, to rob the home. It has been proven that when fear is against an agenda, fear takes over. The most common form of fear, is surrender. You grab the handgun; the criminal sees you have a gun pointed on him, and you shoot the criminal and then suffer the death penalty. Our justice system is now set up to a very secure point in which self defense is a right. We now have the technology it takes to recreate crime scenes making self defense obvious. The criminal runs out of your home and the criminal doesn't drop anything. In other words, the gun saved your life. (Thanks for that one Dnick, I was relying on that slip up) Situation 2 (Without Gun): You hide in the corner begging for mercy and then you beat the criminal up, because both of you have no guns. The criminal has a gun because he failed to obey a ban which cannot be enforced. You hide in the corner begging for mercy and then the criminal beats you up, because both of you have no guns. Again, The criminal has a gun because he failed to obey a ban which cannot be enforced. He shoots you to make sure his identity was still hidden and DNA analysis was used to track down the bullet to its owner, then the criminal is brought to justice. And according to my opponent "The criminal runs out of your home" because you had a gun. (His sit2 example) He has a gun and sees you hiding in the corner begging for mercy and because he thought that the gun ban made you defenseless, you shot hit with a taser gun disguised as a flashlight or cell phone. I have honestly been hit with a "Jail Tazer" before, they cause cramping for 5 seconds making it dangerous for you due to the fact that he has his gun pointed at you. What about his finger cramping and pulling the trigger? "But that doesn't mean that he is intelligent enough to get a gun if gun were banned". Drugs are banned, these people who use drugs are usually non-educated. Yet they still get their hands on drugs. I live in Western VA, I know how to make a fully functional rifle out of parts in my garage. My father knows how to make a pistol out of engine parts that can be found in a local junkyard. In Craig County we once had a "Gun Building" contest to see who was the best at it in our area. If a bunch of rednecks can produce guns, what makes you think that we are the only ones who can? Lets see how much you like the following numbers... 1.4 million handguns - 1997 USA Production (CFAF) 2.2 million shotguns - 1997 USA Production (CFAF) In 1996 a Police study found that 44 million Americans owned 192 million guns, 65 million of these were handguns. My opponent is suggesting that the above numbers can simply vanish into thin air just because a man in office signed a paper saying that they must vanish. As far as I'm aware, these papers have no supernatural power of any type.. How could you enforce a law that must find 192 million (as of 96') guns in order to work properly?