Jordan, it surely is oversimplification. Gun ownsership does tranform people's attitudes toward their own safety and toward other people, albeit in a rather subtle and not fully conscious way.
I agree with your argument with the growing culture of violence in the underworld and that a relatively small number of individuals is resposnible for relative large share of crimes (ditto for police brutality). I also buy your point on accidens. But there is yet another type of violent crime, especially against women (if I remember correctly, about 1/3 of female murder victims die from the hand someone they know, a boyfriend, a husband etc.). In those crimes of "passion" or perhaps "control and power"
the presence of a gun is a contributory factor, because the perpetrator does not act rationally and because using a lethal weapon greatly improves the chances of killing the victim. In other words, the presence of a gun transforms a battery case into a murder case.
Another example is people killing other people for what appears minor transgression: tresspassing, cutting someone off, spraying graffiti, stealing small sum of money (these are all real cases). If you asked those people if human life is worth $20 they woul dmost likely answer "no" - yet they kill another person for what appears to saving themselves twenty bucks.
To understand the dynamics of this type of killing, let start with the observation that guns, like any other object, can be used as fetishes. People use fetishes to "protect" themselves but the inadvertent effect of fetishes is that they make people think they are safe so they stop using their common sense to avoid danger. Consequently, fetishes can get them into a dangerous situation instead of helping them to avoid one. The problem with guns in such situation is is that people may try to use them and kill someone.
This is one of the main reason why I refuse to buy a gun, even though I am sometimes tempted when someone steps on my toes. So far I was able to talk my way out of such situations, but they left me angry. So whenever I get angry and think "shit, I wish a had a piece" I ask myself "so what would you do with it, if you had one?" "Would you want to kill the guy who broke your car window or tried to steal your stereo?" The answer is invariably "no."
Quite frankly, I do not think most gun owners ask themselves that question - they simply buy guns as a fetish that gives them a sense of "protection" or "control" - but they are not ready to kill another human being. However, when they face a real or perceived threat to their "security" or "self-esteem" they use that deadly fetish with the conseqiences that run basically against their will.
I am talking from exeprience here - someone I knew was shot and killed by her lover under such circumstances. The pathetic macho idiot did not mean to kill her - he just felt hurt when she threatened to dump him and confused his limp dick with a gun he had in a drawer. I am almost certain that if he did not have a gun, the whole situation would have ended in a big argument, perhaps battery - not death.
So while I am against a gun ban for reasons I stated elsewhere - I am also against gun ownership. I think by buying them people either fool themselves that those things will somehow "protect" them without fully realizing the potentially deadly consequences of their decision - or are willing and prepared to kill someone to spare their 20 bucks or a car stereo. Or perhaps they take pleasure in killing animals just for the heck of it. I have nothing but contempt for such attitudes.
I do not think there is a place for a deadly weapon in a rational person's life - and every rationally thinking person will reach that conclusion and voluntarily abstain from acquiring such a weapon. But by the same virtue, I do not think that a leag ban on "guns and violence" is a very rational social policy either.
Wojtek