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  In a world where the CIA kills people it can't identify on the other side of the planet with missiles fired from robots based on their cell phone meta data, small arms are basically meaningless.
  
  Tell that to the Taiban.
context: People won't like it, but a big part of it is guns. Guns make killing people easier. And I don't mean they're just more efficient - but psychologically it is easier to pull a trigger in a fit of rage than it is to beat someone to death, or stab them, etc. 
  I use to study crime, and the macabre fact is, it takes a lot of strength and force and effort to kill someone with physical force. Whether it is stabbing, strangling, beating, etc. And it requires you to get very close to the person as well and whether people understand it that contact....makes it harder to kill someone. It takes longer, there's more direct contact which makes it hard to dehumanize someone, etc. 
  It's very easy to become angry, pull a trigger, and it only takes once...and it's done. No time to rethink it. And they're efficient. It's unlikely you'll be fought off. It's likely to only take a few shots to do the job in most cases. 
  IMHO, that's all there is to it. People say all the time, 'you can kill someone with anything'. Sure. But if all things were equal they'd keep a box of pencils by their bed not a gun right? Guns are an efficient tool for killing people. The best tool for it really. That's just a fact. 
  We have a lot of guns. And a lot of murders. >
  
  It's obvious. And here's another thing they won't like. This is a feature of American life. It's not going away. It's the second ammendment. There's almost no way to affect meaningfull change. Sorry. The murder rates will remain high, school shootings and mass murders will continue at alarming rates, because the second amendment was a mistake. In a world where the CIA kills people it can't identify on the other side of the planet with missiles fired from robots based on their cell phone meta data, small arms are basically meaningless. The founders aren't to blame for this mistake really. They were definitely meaningful at the time, but they aren't now. But they're here to stay.