That’s an oversimplification. The gun density of the Nordic countries and Switzerland is in the same order of magnitude as the US and roughly similar to Canada and quite a few other European countries. We still have very few murders, accidents, etc.. by gun, though. The big difference is that handguns are extremely heavily regulated, so most of those guns are long guns, intended for hunting or sports shooting.
Re. the question in the OP’s title: I own guns (plural) because I hunt, and it’s rather difficult to hunt without a gun. Besides, target shooting and clay shooting is fun. If I’m not hunting or at the range, my guns are safely locked up in a safe and can’t be used effectively in a self defense scenario even if I’d wanted to.
Bobarrrgh, thank you for the thoughtful and detailed response. I had no idea you could take those classes without already owning a gun. I may look into it in the future whenever I have the money.
Several of the ranges in my area offer what’s basically an “Intro to guns” class. You don’t have to own your own gun or even have ever picked one up before. Years ago my sister went to one and after learning all the safety stuff, we got to shoot half a dozen different handguns (revolvers and semis) and I think as many long guns. We learned so much.
Also check out the First Shots program and see if there is one going on near you. It’s a free program so wouldn’t even cost you anything! Suburban Plankton and I went to one last year, because while I am confident shooting, I wasn’t confident teaching him.
Because not everyone outside your door wishes you well. We take normal security precautions as a first line, and likely wouldn’t have a gun if we didn’t do a lot of RV traveling. Between the possibility of rabid animals and the odd psychopath that prowls campgrounds, I hedge my bets on the side of lethality.
I’m female, I live alone, I don’t have dogs. Reason enough.
The Divemaster outfitted me with a nice Remington pump-action with double-ought shot cartridges that won’t penetrate my neighbor’s walls (i live in an attached townhouse condo) but **will **ruin the day of any unwelcome visitors.
That shotgun came in very handy a few years ago during an attempted break-in.
I did a lot of hunting and shooting when I was growing up, and thought I’d like to continue to do so as an adult, so acquired the necessary licenses and equipment.
One other reason, is that living in a rural area, we have predatory wildlife that can be problematic…
I am going to post a broken link to a video on my YouTube page, it shows the aftermath of a predator attack on a yearling whitetail deer that happened on our property, I think it may have been a coyote, but I’m not sure
The video is graphic and if you have a weak stomach, please do not follow the link, you will not be happy
Whatever did this may still be roaming our property, we have 50 acres of land, mostly hay fields…
Oh, and I forgot to mention that my 8 year old niece was walking through the field the evening it happened, my sister has a house on the property and she was walking up to our house like she usually does…
Paste the two together to view, but be warned, it is graphic
Harsh language wouldn’t work on something that can do this, only weaponry, that’s one of the many reasons that we own firearms, and everyone in the family knows how to use them
I will re-upload a higher resolution version, but yes the deer was gutted by the animal it was Missing the top half of the torso, The only remaining parts were the head and the side of the deer that was laying on the ground, the upper legs were gone and the guts were distributed across the field
Oops, looks like I deleted the vid from the iPhone to save space, then I deleted the vid from YouTube before I realized that, sorry
That said, something took down the deer, dragged it a good 40 yards from the initial attack point (the tail was severed and on the ground, it wasn’t a vehicle-struck deer, the drag path was serpentine, indicating a struggle, and there were two separate gut piles about 15 yards apart, at the final resting point of the carcass the upper half of the torso, both upper legs, and chest cavity were just… Gone
The remaining body parts were the other side of the body in contact with the ground, a pool of blood in the rib cage and the neck and head
That sounds like the work of a coyote, and the main reason I have a gun. Not because I have anything against predators: we’ve wiped out most of our apex predators and many prey species, including whitetailed deer, are out of control and have become pests. And not because I prize deer above coyotes; both have equal weight in the food web AFAIC. But because coyotes are opportunistic and learn to become aggressive and unafraid of people. I don’t go looking for them, but I’ll stop those members of the pack which hunt in my yard.
The deer likely died quickly, as coyotes go for the jugular to avoid being struck by hooves. But they do make a terrible mess and attempt to drag the carcass off and members of the pack argue and tug-of-war over the remains. The kill probably wasn’t nearly as brutal as the aftermath and butchering.
I like to shoot. I like to make things go from point A to point B accurately. Archery is exhausting and my shoulders can’t handle a lot of ball throwing. So I take my .22 rifles to the range and make a bunch of little holes in paper. The challenge is to get the little holes as close together as possible. You do this by controlling your breath, muscle tone, flinch reflex, and vision. It takes discipline and practice, it’s kind of a zen thing. I don’t fantasize about a critter being the target even when I’m sighting the hunting rifle.