Well, I can see your point, but I don’t look at it that way. I look at rifles and handguns precisely as killing tools. That doesn’t mean people, necessarily. I was not willing to attack the rattlesnake with anything other than a rifle! In my mind, they are tools for killing. I have no problem with that. It is self defense, but the defense is final. As it should be. That concern is a deterrent to those that would cause harm.
David, your parents clued me in to your blog on the right to carry. I can agree with most everything you’ve stated, with the one exception to the purpose of handguns and rifles. Killing is incredibly low on the list of gun purposes, as it is with other “weapons” that you’ve listed. This is an important point to make, as it is one quite often quoted from the anti-gun crowd. This is one attitude that many of us gun owners are trying to change.