[roughcoat]

I've used a handgun to signal for help, to find lost people in the woods in Alaska, to hunt, to scare away bears, and for fun. And on a few occasions, I've been very glad to have a handgun with me stateside, because I came quite close to needing to use it to protect myself. Fortunately I was able to negotiate those situations without using force.

Are you a pacifist, incidentally? Can you really think of no valid reason why a citizen might need to wound or kill someone?

[odonnellryan]

Guns used to be tools, but they aren't in much of the US. That doesn't mean they can't be, but they aren't used as tools, so they've lost a lot of their value.

Yes, if you're hunting, it's a tool.