It’s pretty well-known that I am a gun-ownership advocate. I don’t judge anyone for their beliefs on guns, good or bad, but I do want to take every opportunity I can to to enlighten people and expand their knowledge of firearms.

One of the most common arguments against firearm ownership is that gun owners are more likely to harm themselves than to actually use the weapon in self-defense.

Here’s an interesting article on firearm use in suicides that I think is worth reading.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/127531.html

I believe the reasoning at the end of the article is the most important aspect. How far should the government be allowed to reach into our lives to protect us from ourselves? Life is dangerous, but it’s impossible to stop every possible accident no matter what you do – and if you prevent one accident, another on will be looming around the corner. As the article highlights, if you remove one method of killing, the sad fact is people will default to another method. Take England for example; They have some of the most stringent firearms laws in the world, but knife-related fatalities have skyrocketed. Take away the knives, and you’re left with the situation faced in prisons where weapons are made out of plastic, toilet paper, soap, anything they can get their hands on. It’s a vicious cycle, and the solution isn’t gun-control. The solution is education. Keeping law-abiding citizens from owning and carrying firearms has no real effect.