davidsog said:
Aguila Blanca said:
]they say "Guns are only good for killing.
It is a fallacy to argue otherwise.
I know people who have owned and used guns all their lives and never used any of them to kill anything.
Clearly guns are good for things other than killing and it's not any kind of a fallacy to point that fact out.
One could argue that guns are MADE for killing, but that's certainly not true of all guns although it is clearly true of some. I have an old military rifle that was made to kill people. Although it was clearly never used for that purpose (it is in unissued condition) that was clearly the intent of the person who designed it and the people who manufactured it.
But there are other guns which were clearly not designed or manufactured for killing. That's not to say that they have no lethal potential, just that their design purpose has nothing to do with killing. This pistol, for example, was not designed for anything involving killing. It does have an intended use for which it is ideal--so it is an obvious example of a gun that is not only good for something other than killing, it is a gun that was not designed or intended for killing.
http://www.morini.ch/product_det.php?id=7
So, we see that the statement: "Guns are ONLY good for killing." is obviously false.
We also see that the statements: "Guns are made for killing." and "Guns are designed to kill." have counterexamples that prove that while many guns are made/designed to kill, others are clearly designed for other purposes having nothing to do with killing. So these two statements are false too.
It is clear that guns were
originally designed for killing and the first guns were made only for that purpose. It was likely some time before recreational shooting other than hunting became a common use of firearms, but now, at least in some countries, recreational use, not even involving hunting, is now likely the most common use for firearms. To the point that there are many firearms designed and made exclusively for uses that have nothing to do with killing.
What could we say that is true? We can say the following:
1. Guns were, in the very beginning, designed and used exclusively for killing.
2. Many guns are designed for uses that can involve killing, either for military use, self-defense/LE use, or hunting use. However, that design intent does not constrain the owner to use the firearms for only those purposes and there are clearly common, legitimate, uses for these types of guns that do not involve killing.
3. Although it wasn't true in the very early history of firearm, now there are firearms not designed or manufactured or purchased for killing. They have purposes having nothing to do with killing and, although any gun is potentially lethal, most of this class of firearm would be an obviously poor choice for any type of application involving killing. They are typically slow to load, have low capacity, sights that are poorly adapted for hunting or self-defense or military use, too fragile for military or LE use, too unwieldy, or too heavy to carry, chambered in cartridges not generally considered suitable for military, LE or self-defense use and uncommon for hunting purposes, etc.