The answer of course is maybe. Just maybe this punk would've gone through the extra hassle of tracking down an illegal weapon, carting it around with him knowing he'd be put in jail simply for its posession, or maybe he'd have forgone the work to do that and used a knife or a baseball bat instead. Nobody contends that the punk still wouldn't have found a way to rob people. That part of the evil doesn't go away.

However, the simple fact remains that were a law passed that greatly reduced the number of per-capita firearms, especially high capacity handguns, we'd more than likely have less death in our streets. There's simply no statistic available that can lead anyone to a conclusion that a well-armed society will show restraint in their killing of one another.

Your arguments in this area seem completely an emotional hunch and absolutely unverifiable. Once again we're talking about that grey area of human behavior that has far too many factors to create identifiable statistics. Any attempt by you to create some illusion that you have this deep insight about the crime-reducing effects of putting a gun on everyone's waist is simply a waste of breath. The only absolute in further arming our society would be more guns, more bullets, more shots, and more profits for the firearm industry.

Art