"When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."

Above the law (police being ALLOWED to run red lights if deemed necessary to perform their duties) is clearly not the same as outside the law (me running a red light because I feel like it)." Let's say that the law is some random 3-D shape, a cube. If a person is above this cube that is the law, then they are not inside the cube, and instead on the outside. If they were just above the center of the cubic law, then they would just be within the upper extremities of law, not above the law. It doesn't matter if the federal government is involved or not; the police are not required to follow a law; thus, they are above that law; thus, they are outside the law. "The very link my opponent cited [1] for the definition for outlaw makes this quite clear." I defined "outlaw" as "outside the law," which you agreed to. Thus, anyone who is outside the law is an outlaw for this debate, whether they are a bandit or not. "The police are IMMUNE from laws when on duty, and therefore it is impossible to break them." The police are above the law; thus, they are immune. This still means that they are above the law; if they weren't above the law, they'd either be gunless or illegal. "'Outlaw' is distinctively defined to mean one who is breaking the law, and needless to say that doesn't apply to police officers who are required to carry guns for their job." Not in this debate. I defined "outlaw" so that it would include federal officers who remain with guns even after they are made illegal. "I see no reason to address the rest of my opponent's argument, because it is a repeat of the same semantics he's exhibited throughout the debate, and which I've already rebutted." You may have felt that you have rebutted the semantics, but you haven't. "He also uses a definition from the urban dictionary to prove whatever point he feels he has, which is a basic source fail." It was the only source I could find that would define "above the law" without referencing a hip-hop group, blog, film, or TV series. It is also an acceptable source for Debate.org; I have seen many debates that use them. http://www.debate.org... "My opponent's entire argument has relied on semantically trying to equate the immunity police officers have against the law with the act of breaking the law." The federal government making people above the law is valid under their own laws, but "above the law" is still "outside the law," no matter how you look at it. "He has stretched his definition of outlaw as 'outside the law' far beyond where it should be stretched, as is obvious when he resorts to saying 'The policemen are outlaws, by definition', and other such clear contradictions." The idea of an outlaw having to be someone who breaks the law and is on the run is non-existent for this debate, because it conflicts with the agreed-upon definitions. "This is the equivalent of me saying that the word 'philosophy' means 'love of wisdom', and then conclude that everyone who loves wisdom is in fact a philosopher. Or if I tell you that the word 'democracy' literally means 'popular government', and then conclude that in a democracy ALL governments are popular. It is taking the base literal meaning of a word and twisting to suit a resolution which, in this case, I've shown quite simply to be wrong." From Round 2: "'My definition of outlaw was one who is 'outside the law.' Errm... right. I'm not disputing that." If I concede that those definitions are correct, then by all means, I deserve to lose such debates. "Police officers will continue to carry guns in a society which bans them, yet they will not be outlaws by any reasonable definition of the word. Vote CON." They are outlaws by the agreed-upon definition for this debate, whether you now question its reasonability or not. If you disagree with the resolution, don't say that you won't dispute it. In conclusion, when guns are outlawed, only bandits and policemen, apparently, will still have guns, and because bandits have been conceded to be outlaws, and policemen have been proven to be outlaws, only outlaws will have guns. Vote PRO. Thank you for this debate.