- a disarmed state is a police state -
Well argued points but as an example I'm not sure I would describe the UK as a police state.
Not saying that we don't have our problems here either.
Comparing the (mostly) desperately unfortunate people of Syria with the US is also a bit of a stretch, as in you are comparing a 1st world democracy with a 2nd? world dictatorship.
Maturity and stability of government is part of the equation.
Another state/country that embraces armed civilians is Switzerland.
I know little of the detail of how this works for them, but certainly we hear much less in the way of tragic shootings, maybe they are just smaller, but also maybe there are lessons for us all from there.
Had Mr. Jefferson Heavner been armed, he could have defended himself that cold night and he might have survived to be here to raise his young child.
*could* - that is if he was prepared for it - which I rather doubt would be the case.
In any event no guns would equal no fatalities, any guns would lead to one or more fatalities.
We know little of the assailant, he could have been rotten to the core and deserving of everything the law can throw at him, or he could just have been a stupid drunk family guy himself, embarrassed he'd got his car stuck and panicked when he heard the word police. Killing all the stupid drunks in the US and the UK for that matter sure would thin the population out a bit, in fact having been stupid drunk at least once in my life you'll probably have to put me on the list too.
