Guns don't solve gun problems and guns don't solve violence

Wouldn't it be nice if in a violent world, bringing a gun home made your house a less likely site of violence?

But it doesn't work that way. With suicides, domestic violence, guns getting into the wrong hands, in your home, the chance is more likely that the gun you bring home for safety will make you unsafe in a greater number of situations than it will make you safer in.

Wouldn't it be nice if in a violent world, allowing everyone to carry, concealed, everywhere would make all our public places safer?

But it doesn't work that way. As in high crime areas, the prevalence of weapons in each altercation does the opposite of making those with the weapons safer --it seems to make those situations more volatile.

Human beings, as flawed as they are, carrying the most efficient, accessible and fast tools of deadly force does not make all of us safer. Human nature being what it is, it is the lack of access to this efficient means of deadly force that allows situations to cool down, for situations to be handled by those who have, or are more likely to have, an objective relationship to the situation and are less apt to use deadly force in the heat of the moment or in a moment of passion.

Taking on the gun culture is not necessarily about banning guns or making them harder to get. It's about addressing the myth that having a gun makes you safer on the premise that access to deadly force is something that makes us all safer. Taking on the gun culture is about taking on the idea that guns promote peace, not violence.