To be against the right to possess a fire arm is to be, unwittingly, against self defense.

The right to keep and bear arms originated in the Assize of Arms of 1181..." The right to defend myself by whatever means originated at the moment of my personal conception, and this is true for each individual, back to the first man and woman. Government cannot give anyone a right. Rights are not drafted! They are pre-existing! They are not granted, but merely recognized by a constitution. "… the right to bear arms for the purpose of defense was drafted… when it was envisaged that a militia made up of civilians should be allowed to defend themselves and their country against attack from enemy forces." You are confusing the text of the US Constitution with the specific issue of whether I/you have a natural right to self defense. I would have that right even if the government said that I did not. A right is endemic to the individual. Govt. can - and often does - suppress a right, but it cannot erase it. "These days, however, the United States has the most powerful armed forces in the world and it is unlikely, in the extreme, that any country would be able to overwhelm them to such an extent that ordinary American citizens would have to use small arms to fight an invading army street to street." Thank you for finally getting to the point of the debate. My right to self defense is not tied to any particular situation such as this one. I and I, alone, can determine when and how and in what circumstance it will become necessary to defend myself. Eliminating one potential situation from the infinite potential situations as a ‘gotcha‘ is hyperbole. "Therefore, in the modern context, outside the domains of sport and hunting, the only reason any private citizen would keep or carry a firearm would be to use it to kill or maim another civilian, whether it be maliciously or in self-defense." I disagree. I have used a gun on two occasions of self defense. In the first, while at home alone (aged 14) I shot an intruder who attacked me in my house. It was a home-made muzzle loaded gun that fired a small ball bearing. He left the house screaming. He may still be running. In the second case, I merely removed my gun from my drawer and the intruder ran for his life. Don't tell him - the gun wasn't loaded. "However, the girl's father is a devout Catholic and does not appreciate your offer and proceeds to grab you by the throat. As it happens, though, you keep a loaded Uzi submachine gun on the table by the door." So what happens next? 1 – You pick it up and blow your new girlfriend's dad's head into the front yard of the house opposite. 2 – You pick it up but the enraged parent wrestles it off you and uses it to redecorate the hallway with your brains. 3 – You reason with the man and eventually placate him by promising to marry his daughter. (When he's gone you can always leave your house in the hands of a real estate agent and board the next flight to Ulan Bator - that's up to you)." Or 4 - You reason with him and he takes out his knife and slices you into 42 ï¿½ pieces. Of the three options, only the third and FOURTH would be open to a British citizen, where nobody (except some farmers) is allowed to have a gun. "That is why, whereas one in every 9,750 Americans is shot dead every year, in Britain only one in every 154,000 people are killed by a gun." The difference in gun deaths is not a valid comparison, in as much as suicide rates which are similar are more often effected by other means in GB. Also, the US has a more violent population - unrelated to gun ownership - than the UK. Hot burglaries - where the burglar knows the residents are home - is 7 times higher in the UK. The reason? There is no gun to be afraid of. "Perhaps you are aware that:" http://www.gun-control-network.org... This is a rather stupid anti-gun study. To compare suicides by gun, among various states, some of which have many guns and others, only a few, is to suggest that the higher gun-suicide rate represents the fortuitous death of a person who would be alive, but for the availability of a gun. Absolute nonsense! People decide on suicide first, and then they choose the means "My opponent describes the right to the right to bear arms as being of fundamental importance but this right makes an American 16 times more likely to be shot dead than a British citizen." This is nonsense, the overwhelming majority of gun deaths is by gangsters who have and use guns illegally. For example, North Dakota, which has more guns than people, has less gun deaths than either Wash. D.C. or Detroit, where guns are virtually outlawed. "I therefore affirm that the right to live in a country relatively free from gun-related deaths outranks the right of a citizen to carry a firearm." My simile follows: The availability of cancer surgery makes an American cancer victim thousands of times more likely to die from cancer surgery than a cancer victim in the mountains of Chile, where surgery is unavailable. I therefore affirm that the right to live in a country relatively free from cancer surgery related deaths outranks the right of a citizen to receive cancer surgery. Hitler voiced an argument, very similar to yours. The German people tuned in their guns. Gun deaths did go down - slightly. Alas OVEN deaths went up - slightly. My simile follows: The availability of cancer surgery makes an American cancer victim thousands of times more likely to die from cancer surgery than a cancer victim in the mountains of Chile, where surgery is unavailable. I therefore affirm that the right to live in a country relatively free from cancer surgery related deaths outranks the right of a citizen to receive cancer surgery. In the USA the overwhelming majority of gun deaths are the result of gang members killing each other as well as innocent civilians. The vast majority of gun owners never even fire their guns, let alone use their guns to hurt others. But you would prefer to be victimized by the gang bangers, rather than protecting yourself and others. That is sick! http://news.bbc.co.uk... http://www.guncite.com... http://www.guncite.com...