I said I'd write one in behalf of gun-fearers, and we'd print them together. This is my half of the debate. Compared to other democracies, America is a brutal, dangerous place. The U.S. murder rate is 70 times higher than in some orderly nations. Most of the killings involve guns.
Pistols add finality to arguments.
If two drunks quarrel in a tavern and one pulls a knife, the other may be able to run away. But it's hard to outrun a bullet. The pattern doesn't change from decade to decade. Deep cultural differences cause part of this violence gap, but part results from the fact that the low-murder nations don't allow pistol pollution. Soaring popularity of Uzi-size machine guns among drug dealers worsened the U.S. carnage, adding greater risk that bystanders would be hit during shootouts.