- Question
Do guns kill or do people kill people?
“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” is a well-known slogan used by the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun activists to make the case for their deregulation agenda. So which is it? Do guns kill people or do people kill people?
Guns kill people
This position holds that guns kill people. It argues that firearms are uniquely lethal — some designed solely to kill — that they make killing far more efficient and large-scale, that it is the bullet that causes death, and that more guns in a society correspond to more deaths.
People kill people
This position holds that people, not guns, kill people. It argues that a gun is an inanimate object, dangerous only in dangerous hands — that those who would kill will find a way regardless — locating responsibility in the person pulling the trigger rather than the weapon.