The Right to Bear Arms ... on Campus

Yes, and I've heard that knives thing used as an argument in favor of gun ownership, but frankly, it's kind of hard to kill a bunch of people from a distance by throwing knives at them, unless you're really good at it, like V in V For Vendetta. Imagine the bell-tower shooter taking a bunch of kitchen knives and throwing them down at people. Not very effective after one loses the element of surprise.

(Not saying you were making that argument. You weren't, far as I can see.)

You are correct; I wasn't specifically adding to one side of the argument or another with that comment. Granted, it indirectly supports an anti-gun stance: if things are no less violent in the UK as they are in the US, but there are fewer deaths per capita as a result of greater gun control, might not speak of some efficacy of gun control? I might have to look up some stats on all that.

Yup yup.

It may be difficult to kill someone at a distance with a knife, but why does that matter when the person with a knife doesn't have to worry about the potential consequences of getting close enough to a person to kill them? Guns are the only weapon that are easy to use (getting up to what is called "defensive accuracy" with a handgun is not difficult at all) and will work at a distance. They are the only weapon that will truly make a small person the equal of a large one, or a woman the equal of a man. I own a rifle, I know how to use it, I plan to eventually purchase a handgun (which I also know how to use) and I'm grateful to live in a country where defending my life and property against criminals is not yet considered a crime.