Definitional exclusion

There's quite a bit of commentry about this already, most of it more in-depth than I feel like addressing.

So I'll simply make one point, and then pass you on to those who have already so handily addressed the more techincal silliness.

But I do have a couple things I feel compelled to address:

The National Rifle Association in the United States of America has very few female members, but those that are members claim that guns empower them, protect them and give them more freedom in a country marked by the highest crime rate in the world.

Lady you need to get out more. Can you seriously intend to exclude all the violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, etc...

Unless you're completey talking out your hyperbolic ass... or maybe your statist, perpetually outraged victim outlook doesn't allow for oxyegen to reach your brain the possibility that government might commit crimes against its own people, or that anything factual needs to actually, you know, be true.

The United States as a whole is just right up there among the safest places in the world, with a few shitty spots, which bad neighborhoods are notable for 1. non-integration of the African American populations into the mainstream, or 2. massive population of immmigrants. Think Washington DC, Atlanta, Los Angeles, NYC, Chicago, Baltimore. Even the vast majority of these cities are statistically safe at night for unarmed women and children. Contrast that to Cape Town, SA.

Contrary to popular belief samurais did not rule with the sword. They ruled with highly effective training that made them very good men-at-arms. The katana and wakizashi swords were the tools of choice, but they were also trained with Japanese bows, spears and many other tools of the trade.

They also prohibited ALL of those items AND training with them to the peasants, who had to make do with improvising weapons from farming implements if they were ever so bold as to do so. Effective "men-at-arms" do not spring from whole cloth, neither in feudal Japan nor in America today. The fact that a majority of military members today come not from inner cities but rather from the South, the West, and small towns all over is not because they are ignorant and without options, rather because there is a tradition of martial spirit and self-reliance in those places that fitsd well with the protective warrior ethos. They also have access to guns from a young age, and do not fear handling them, seeing them as merely another tool, neither good nor evil in and of themselves.

The American government is certainly not threatening to kill its own citizens for the sake of gun control.

Read up on the BATFE and their history of violence and mistakes, sometime. Keep in mind, that they are not a Law Enforcement agency, but rather a tax-revenue collection agency, and contrast that mission with their actions and tactics.

Guns are addictive, hence all the Americans who own guns and love them so much. Its fun to twirl a fully loaded pistol on your finger and play cowboy with the mirror.

WTF? As Don Gwinn says, here is where I stop kidding and say, "Get some therapy to help you work through your projection issues." Because that is just effing ridiculous.

Actually the "training" is an illusion. People think that just because they can shoot a target that isn't moving that somehow they have great aim and shooting skill.

If you really think that all police go through that much more training, again, you need to do some research. Anyway, what does that have to do with your thesis? I believe you were talking about crime, and safety. Shooting safely has far less to do with being able to shoot something than knowing when not to shoot.

Big flashy guns are for men with small dicks. {...}Frankly the best tool against a rapist is laughter. Men can't stand it when you laugh at their equipment. Call it a combination of dick-envy and male ego, but men get really upset when you laugh at their pathetic private little pistol.

Don't people ever get tired of this glib bullshit?

I'll admit, the self-confidence thing is true: best not to look like a victim. Even better to have the ability to defend yourself when someone calls your bluff.