No one asks about how many lives have been saved by guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens defending themselves and their families against the violent criminals that liberal gun controllers allow to walk the streets. Lott's study is one of the few that even addresses that question. Laws controlling guns have been on the books for years. The only meaningful question is whether those laws are to be tightened and how. Instead, ugly-looking weapons have been banned by name, while equally deadly weapons that don't look so bad are still sold.
All weapons are for assault.
That is what makes them weapons, whether they are guns, bows and arrows or boomerangs. Because they are capable of assault, they are also capable of deterring assault, usually just by being pointed at a potential assailant. They are a lot better for protection than phoning 911 and waiting for the police to arrive after the crime has been committed and the criminal is long gone. In short, guns save lives and guns take lives. If we are serious, then we can talk about how many lives are involved each way and what can we do to continue to deter violent criminals, while reducing the deaths caused by accidents or crime.