Yes, it was in today's news - a man with an axe attacked and beheaded another man in North London. Just think, if he'd had a gun, he could have stood outside a Church and shot
seven people.
Mr. Toad! I'm sure there are quite a few fatalities in bathtubs, showers etc. But the difference is that where I come from, taking a bath or shower is considered an essential part of everyday life by millions. YMMV as you live in the country and all.
;)
So in that sense, bathtub deaths, or deaths resulting from slipping on a bar of soap in the shower are unavoidable - unless we give up baths/showers - then we could do what rural Americans do, and take a bath standing in a barrel in the middle of the street, as in the cowboy movies!
On the other hand, guns are unnecessary. I have two Californian friends who own guns. Lazs is one, the other is CPP who lives near Oxnard. He has owned a pistol 15 years and has never even taken it out of its box. Really useful - NOT.
Consider this parallel - and GTOra2 would agree with this. (He claimed to have added me to his ignore list 2 years ago, but I know he's really in peekaboo mode - Hi GTO!) If you had a friend who was dying of cancer, well that's too bad. Cancer is an occupational hazard of life. It might well get me in the fullness of time, just as it got my dad. But then consider someone who is dying of AIDS. Such a tragic way to go and (in the western world where we have condoms and education about the dangers of drugs/sharing needles) it's an entirely
avoidable cause of death. That makes it more tragic, IMO - especially as many victims are cut down way before their time.
The gun that killed the two year old (subject of this thread) was an
unnecessary gun. No doubt the mother would agree with me on that.