# Why arming all your citizens is a stupid idea. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 16, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905 "2018-02-16T00:43:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/21 "2018-02-16T03:59:34Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > I know this line isn’t the gist of your entire post, but a single “good guy with a gun” is not likely to be a big asset. I’m basing this on conversations with our school resource officer, who was a skilled sniper. It’s very, very difficult to shoot and hit one particular individual in a crisis situation, especially when there are a lot of distractions, such as innocent people running, yelling, etc. This is true even for calm, skilled cops. He said it’s not at all like it is in the movies. > > I think a single, skilled, calm CCW owner would be dangerous most crises, though I do agree with your post as a whole. I’m curious, do you know of any historical situation(s) where a CCW permit holder shot a bystander while confronting an active shooter? I can see how theoretically that’s possible, but I’m not aware of any situation where that was the actual, real-world outcome, at least that I can recall off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/22 "2018-02-16T04:00:58Z")
> [@Barack\_Obama](#): > > Partly responsible yes. I’d assume theoretically if there are laws passed regulating guns that they contributed to the lower rate of gun murders. > > I don’t see everyone walking around with a fully automatic. I’m guessing something had to of worked to stop people from having fully automatic guns. Seems like now they just have semi-automatic guns with rapid fire features. Full automatic weapons were banned in the 30’s…and accounted for a miniscule number of gun homicides even when they were legal. And most gun deaths in the US are actually handguns, not rifles, semi-automatic or otherwise. I think rifles are actually behind shotguns, but just going on memory there so maybe not. They certainly are behind handguns though. I don’t think that the regulations passed since the 80’s have done much of anything, since most of the really hard legislature was passed in the 60’s and 70’s, especially at the state and local levels. Most of the legislature passed in the time frame you are talking about was feel good stuff that dealt with cosmetics such as the AWB and the like…which had either zero or very limited effect. ---
**Author:** ![Barack\_Obama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Barack\_Obama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barack_Obama)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/23 "2018-02-16T04:20:10Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Full automatic weapons were banned in the 30’s…and accounted for a miniscule number of gun homicides even when they were legal. And most gun deaths in the US are actually handguns, not rifles, semi-automatic or otherwise. I think rifles are actually behind shotguns, but just going on memory there so maybe not. They certainly are behind handguns though. > > I don’t think that the regulations passed since the 80’s have done much of anything, since most of the really hard legislature was passed in the 60’s and 70’s, especially at the state and local levels. Most of the legislature passed in the time frame you are talking about was feel good stuff that dealt with cosmetics such as the AWB and the like…which had either zero or very limited effect. Okay great, so despite the nitty gritty points you want to flip this to. Guns are the problem, people are just being themselves. In countries like switzerland for example, they don’t arm mentally ill people with semi-automatics. In america you can buy a gun from your buddy no problem he wont even ask if you’re a felon. The topic is arming people is stupid, it doesn’t protect them in this environment, it just causes them to inflict harm onto themselves or others. However you want to debate this, nothing will change the fact school shootings, mass shootings, etc… will still happen and increasingly happen as corporate media airs it and more people buy guns. All of this is suspiciously beneficial to gun manufactures and investors who just so happen to give the NRA their money who just so happens to donate to politics and run ads on the media. So maybe instead of beating around the bush we should address the problem. First, stop allowing people to bribe politicians. Second, talk about comprehensive gun reform. Neither of these things are going to happen so long as people are too busy arguing about the zing and not the substance. ---
**Author:** ![Barack\_Obama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Barack\_Obama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barack_Obama)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/24 "2018-02-16T04:22:23Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Ok, I’ll play along. No…unless of course they do it regardless, then they have the ‘right’ because they could do it. Where does that leave us, and how does this relate to what we are discussing? > > Uh…the Japanese did it so that they could maintain absolute power for the ruling classes and keep the others in their places. They also didn’t allow anyone to have bladed weapons during that period except the ruling classes for exactly the same reason. > > I find it unpalatable to do similar things for similar reasons to achieve such a goal in a population, and regardless it’s a bit late in the day to do that in the US…you’d have needed to do it better in Europe before the US was founded then transplant the same environment here and enforce it. So, you’d need a lot of authoritarian measures, a lot of deaths and a time machine at this point. > > Horseshit. They learned what their place was, instilled by the iron fist of the warlords from the top down and re-enforced by their devotion to their emperor. Plus the devastation of losing a major war and being utterly crushed and occupied then living in the shadow of their occupier and those on the other side of a cold war who were worse. > > There is a lot to admire in the Japanese…I do. But the shogunate period wasn’t something to strive for. > > Certainly. Just like if you have more cars you will have more deaths due to car related accidents. And if you have alcohol you will have more alcohol related deaths. And if you have tobacco you will have more tobacco related deaths. Societies decide what is or isn’t acceptable. > > For instance, Japan has a MUCH higher suicide rate per capita than the US does (well, they have the highest in the world, so higher than anyone). They also have a very high rate of alcohol related deaths. In China, they have a tremendously higher tobacco related deaths…as well as auto related deaths. Many European countries have higher rates of alcohol or tobacco related deaths per capita than the US does. To me, these are trade offs. Our society, to date, chooses to accept more deaths for some things, including guns, than we’d have if you could take those things away. All societies do this. I don’t think this is that simple. Taking peoples guns away isn’t going to make them so depressed they kill themselves. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/25 "2018-02-16T05:17:36Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’m curious, do you know of any historical situation(s) where a CCW permit holder shot a bystander while confronting an active shooter? I can see how theoretically that’s possible, but I’m not aware of any situation where that was the actual, real-world outcome, at least that I can recall off the top of my head. Good question! I found only one instance, in Houston in 2015, when a bystander shot at carjackers and hit the victim in the head. Then again, there have been few cases where a CCW bystander fired his/her weapon, period, so in all honesty, we can’t determine probability from actual cases. The school board in my district is about to pass a policy arming teachers. Plan A was to get each teacher CCW licnensed and arm them. When the overwhelming majority of teachers–most of whom are gun owners and hunters–said, “No way,” the board decided teachers could volunteer to carry guns. Volunteers would have a mere 12 hours of police training–not nearly enough. I think this [U.S. army veteran](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/i-m-army-veteran-gun-owner-good-guy-gun-theory-ncna821976) put it well: “…killing another human being, even a “bad” one, is not easy. This is not “Call of Duty”: Despite the damage that modern weaponry can inflict, there is a reason that soldiers and law enforcement officers receive thousands of hours of training in firearms and tactics. This training is physical, mechanical and, most importantly, psychological, because in order to efficiently and effectively kill other human beings in high-stress situations, one must be conditioned to negotiate that stress.” ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/26 "2018-02-16T05:41:42Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Good question! I found only one instance, in Houston in 2015, when a bystander shot at carjackers and hit the victim in the head. … A sincere thanks for pointing out this story. I wonder if you have more info than me: Every story I read on the subject said the witness / shooter / bystander fled the scene before police arrived (after picking up his shell casings :smack: ), so I don’t know if the man actually possessed a CCW permit or not. > **[Man carjacked, witness opens fire at gas station in NE Houston](https://www.click2houston.com/news/2015/09/27/man-carjacked-witness-opens-fire-at-gas-station-in-ne-houston/)** > > Police are searching for the men who carjacked and attacked a man in northeast Houston. > **[Witness who fired on carjackers sought after northwest Houston attack](https://abc13.com/carjacking-assault-valero-gas-station/1004386/)** > > Police are looking for a person who witnessed a violent carjacking in northwest Houston and fired on the suspect > **[Witness accidentally shoots carjacking victim trying to stop thieves](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3252074/Police-looking-vigilante-carjacking-witness-shot-thieves-accidentally-hit-victim-head-fleeing-scene.html)** > > A man who was carjacked in Houston, Texas over the weekend is in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound after a witness accidentally shot him in the head while trying to stop the auto thieves. Either way, it’s a crappy situation for the victim, I’m glad that he survived (or at least it sounded that way from the “stable condition” status. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/27 "2018-02-16T05:47:48Z")
> [@Barack\_Obama](#): > > If I give a kid some money to buy whatever he wants, and we put a gumball machine in his room. How many people honestly think he’s not going to spend his money on a gumball? Now what if we gave that same kid a .44 magnum instead. We tell him he’s only to use it to protect himself. He gets a little older and has an existential crisis. He presently wants to kill himself, in that moment he remember he has a gun. Now how many people honestly think he’s not going to kill himself? Kids like candy, suicidal people want change. The most accessible and easiest option for change is obviously killing yourself. According to statistics, that seems to be the case. Majority use of guns in house holds is not self defense, it’s suicide followed by criminal action, homicide, and unintentional shootings. > [@Barack\_Obama](#): > > Should a country have a right to develop and test nuclear bombs? That’s how I feel about people having the right to wield guns outside of hunting, defense, and trade. In Japan during the 1600s they made it so only hunters and soldiers could have guns, and hunters could only have the guns in certain areas and they couldn’t sell them to non-hunters/soldiers. Now the Japanese have some of the lowest gun-related crimes and deaths in the world. Their culture was developed around treating arms with respect and handling them properly all of the time. Not like American culture which has taught us to treat them carelessly. At most you’ll learn not to look into the barrel of the gun or point it at anybody, but people still do that even in public. And yet Japan has a **far higher suicide rate** than we do. The only thing that a lack of guns does is force them to be creative in how they commit suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/28 "2018-02-16T07:35:45Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > And yet Japan has a **far higher suicide rate** than we do. > > The only thing that a lack of guns does is force them to be creative in how they commit suicide. And would it he higher or lower if there were more guns? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/29 "2018-02-16T07:50:35Z")
Third world healthcare, third world debt, third world gun control, third world leadership … not a great picture. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/30 "2018-02-16T11:22:05Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Here’s the problem I have with the “good guy with a gun” theory: The trouble with your perceiving this as a problem is that it actually works. For instance, a terrorist tried to shoot up a school in Israel and was stopped by armed teachers. Then there was that attempted church shooting in the US. Again, someone with a gun responded. Again, your favourite search engine is your friend. > **[11 times a good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy, saving lives - Photos](https://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/collection/good-guy-gun-stopped-bad-guy-gun/)** > > With tragic events such as the shooting of a bible study group at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, the stories of heroic self defense and lives saved by legal gun owners are often overlooked. Here are just a few stories of law-abiding... > **[Have Armed Citizens Ever Brought Down a Mass Shooter?](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/12/can-armed-citizens-stop-mass-shootings-examples-of-armed-interventions.html)** > > Read more on Slate about gun control. > **[Texas Gun Owner Stopped Church Shooting Rampage](https://www.dailysignal.com/2017/11/06/texas-gun-owner-stopped-church-shooting-rampage/)** > > The shooter killed at least 26 people before a nearby gun owner forced him to flee by grabbing his own rifle and returning fire. > **[20 Times Bad Guys Were Stopped by Armed Citizens in 2016](https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2016/12/29/20-times-bad-guys-guns-stopped-armed-citizens-2016/)** > > Here is a list of armed citizens doing what the left decries as a fabrication: using guns to defend their lives and the lives of others. [http://rense.com/general19/schd.htm](http://rense.com/general19/schd.htm) Etc. BTW from that last link: > [@](#): > > Lott noted. “In the other public school shootings where citizens with guns have stopped attacks, rarely do more than 1 percent of the news stories mention that citizens with guns stopped the attacks.” > > Wall of Silence > > Lott cited research showing there are 2 million defensive gun uses each year. “After all, if these events were really happening, wouldn’t we hear about them on the news? But when was the last time you saw a story on the national evening news (or even the local news) about a citizen using his gun to stop a crime?” I don’t know whether that’s true, but if it is, then you may be being deceived by a biased press. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/31 "2018-02-16T11:24:40Z")
> [@XT](#): > > How does your theory stack up wrt Switzerland? Just curious. Isn’t the high rate of Swiss gun ownership directly tied to military service? In other words, average Swiss gun owners are more likely to be highly trained and disciplined than the average US gun owner. Also I imagine the kinds of guns owned will be slightly different overall. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/32 "2018-02-16T12:13:51Z")
> [@XT](#): > > How does your theory stack up wrt Switzerland? Just curious. Switzerland citizens have a rifle culture, not a hand-held machine-gun culture. Long-range, long non-automatic rifles are what a soldier gets to take home after his military training ( Switzerland still has the draft) to use at home should his country be under attack. Rifles are what people use for practice shooting. Rifles are what the Swiss use for hunting. Try to hide a rifle under your coat, walk into a school, and try to shoot more then one person with it. See the difficulty? [Time article on Swiss gun culture.](http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/) ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/33 "2018-02-16T12:40:14Z")
Plus, they yodel. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/34 "2018-02-16T12:43:48Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > The trouble with your perceiving this as a problem is that it actually works. For instance, a terrorist tried to shoot up a school in Israel and was stopped by armed teachers. Then there was that attempted church shooting in the US. Again, someone with a gun responded. > > Again, your favourite search engine is your friend. > > [https://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/collection/good-guy-gun-stopped-bad-guy-gun/](https://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/collection/good-guy-gun-stopped-bad-guy-gun/) > [Can armed citizens stop mass shootings? Examples of armed interventions.](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/12/can_armed_citizens_stop_mass_shootings_examples_of_armed_interventions.html) > [Texas Gun Owner Stopped Church Shooting Rampage](http://dailysignal.com/2017/11/06/texas-gun-owner-stopped-church-shooting-rampage/) > [http://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2016/12/29/20-times-bad-guys-guns-stopped-armed-citizens-2016/](http://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2016/12/29/20-times-bad-guys-guns-stopped-armed-citizens-2016/) > [Media Ignore Fact That Gun Owners Stopped Law School Shooter](http://rense.com/general19/schd.htm) > > Etc. > > BTW from that last link: > > I don’t know whether that’s true, but if it is, then you may be being deceived by a biased press. This doesn’t conflict with my post if you read the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/35 "2018-02-16T12:52:21Z")
> [@Barack\_Obama](#): > > I’m not a psychologist but I know if I have a piece of chocolate cake in my refrigerator I’m more likely to wake up in the middle of the night and go eat it, than I am to stay in bed if I had not had the cake in there in the first place. Why would this be any different for guns? I’m not a psychologist but it would be different for LOTS OF REASONS. The urge for something sweet in the middle of the night is not the same as the urge to kill a few dozen people. One means the person is hungry, the other means the person is insane. It’s a little disturbing that you see both as ordinary impulses. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/36 "2018-02-16T13:03:55Z")
Could someone please define “good guy with a gun” for me? Do people who shoot up schools think of themselves as “bad guys”? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/37 "2018-02-16T13:04:52Z")
Dunno, ask Switzerland. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/38 "2018-02-16T13:22:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Could someone please define “good guy with a gun” for me? It’s someone who uses a gun lawfully to defend against another person or persons who are acting unlawfully. > [@Barack\_Obama](#): > > The topic is arming people is stupid, it doesn’t protect them in this environment, it just causes them to inflict harm onto themselves or others. If arming people doesn’t protect them, why do defensive gun uses outnumber gun deaths in the US by four or five to one? Have a read thru [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=773012) for some examples. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/39 "2018-02-16T13:31:34Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > If arming people doesn’t protect them, why do defensive gun uses outnumber gun deaths in the US by four or five to one? Have a read thru [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=773012) for some examples. > > Regards, > Shodan Those seem like odd numbers to compare (uses to deaths rather than uses to uses and deaths to deaths). How do defensive gun uses compare to offensive gun uses? How do defensive gun deaths compare to offensive gun deaths? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905/40 "2018-02-16T14:17:45Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Isn’t the high rate of Swiss gun ownership directly tied to military service? In other words, average Swiss gun owners are more likely to be highly trained and disciplined than the average US gun owner. Also I imagine the kinds of guns owned will be slightly different overall. I wasn’t the one who couched the OP in broad brush terms. Yes, afaik Swiss gun ownership is tied to a lot of things, one of which is the defense of the country. So…would arming all their citizens be a stupid idea for the Swiss? Would that be a yes or no from you? > [@Maastricht](#): > > Switzerland citizens have a rifle culture, not a hand-held machine-gun culture. Long-range, long non-automatic rifles are what a soldier gets to take home after his military training ( Switzerland still has the draft) to use at home should his country be under attack. Rifles are what people use for practice shooting. Rifles are what the Swiss use for hunting. > > Try to hide a rifle under your coat, walk into a school, and try to shoot more then one person with it. See the difficulty? No, I don’t see the difficulty wrt the question the OP is asking. I think a lot of you are so hung up on the US that you aren’t actually thinking this through. Simple question…is ‘arming all your citizens’ a ‘stupid idea’, flat out and all the time? Or does what you (and the OP) REALLY mean is it stupid that Americans are allowed guns? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arming-all-your-citizens-is-a-stupid-idea/808905.md?page=3)