"Weapons can be both ... offensive and defensive depending on who is carrying it."

Depending on how it's used. And one man's defense is another's offense. See "Palestine".

Some of them are much, much, much more offensive. Take your basic UZI, or Mac-10, or AK-47. Absolutely can be used to kill one person. So can a small nuke.

Everyone has their own opinions on this, that's why there are so many different handguns. A .45 ACP is probably the best home defense weapon. (Maybe the .40 cal. things are good, too, I don't know anymore.) Heavy enough to stop someone, relatively short range, can be handled by almost anyone. Anything lighter could leave a determined individual standing, and anything stronger, the "magnums", are too hard for most people to shoot twice comfortably.

Another issue is whether a person COULD shoot a person as a function of a rapid response. I think given time and provocation they could, but as a first reaction - I doubt it. I really believe most people couldn't.

And in that case, the bad guy would take the gun away, and have either a gun, or two.

(As an aside, and to vent, giving airline pilots guns is plain dumb. The pilots are strapped into a small area so tightly they don't have the room to maneuver they would need, and the bad guys would know there's a gun on board if they could just get into the cockpit. There, I've said it. Sorry that was irrelevant.)

Arf