• leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    20 hours ago

    We can’t “be done with it” as long as guns are allowed to be manufactured and any random lunatic is allowed to have one.

    The fact that a tool whose only purpose is to kill people is even allowed to exist outside history museums boggles the mind in its monstrosity.

    • village604
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      20 hours ago

      I’m not sure who told you that the only purpose for a gun is to kill people, but they were very wrong.

        • village604
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          19 hours ago

          There is the caveat that some guns were designed specifically for target shooting (like in a competition setting), but those are outliers.

    • galaxy_nova@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Although I agree guns need to be regulated more and there’s too many of them I think your second paragraph is unfortunately unrealistic. Did swords have any purpose besides killing people? Also some guns are used for hunting. Humans go to war and will always create tools of killing I don’t think there’s any way of removing all of those tools because someone will find a way to have them and be at an advantage over others. I’m not sure you can ever convince society as a whole to say no to violence with tools.

      • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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        20 hours ago

        Did swords have any purpose besides killing people?

        For the last several centuries of their widespread existence, swords were an archaism worn by people as a status symbol and to show their belonging to an in-group - like pickup trucks today in the USA.

        • galaxy_nova@lemmy.world
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          20 hours ago

          Yes, but the creation of the sword was for killing people. They were a status symbol because of that. I’m sure when the next better tool comes along then guns will be the same thing.

          • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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            18 hours ago

            Yes, but the creation of the sword was for killing people. They were a status symbol because of that.

            Not really “because of that”. The heyday of the sword was during antiquity. Swords as a fighting weapon were later eclipsed by spears and polearms, and yet nobody wore any other weapon as a fashion statement. It’s just that swords were much more expensive to make then a pollaxe or what-have-you, so they were owned by nobility.

            • galaxy_nova@lemmy.world
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              18 hours ago

              That doesn’t really refute the core point I’m trying to make, but also polearms never really “eclipsed” swords. Sure a spear is much easier for a less trained peasant to use but ultimately a spear or polearm is absolutely garbage against a trained opponent closer than the effective range of your weapon or on a large scale battle where you don’t have enough space to maneuver it. If anything crossbows and later guns would eclipsed swords because it’s very easy to train someone how to use those quickly, and they blew through armor.

              • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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                13 hours ago

                Spear-wielding infantry continued to exist well into the gunpowder era, whereas swords were pretty much only used by cavalry at that point (ironically the disappearance of armour made swords relevant again, in the form of the sabre)