The Assertion that Firearms are designed to kill

A common "talking point" circulating in the "gun control" debate is: "Firearms are designed to kill."

I have shot tens of thousands of rounds from .22 (tiny) shotguns, handguns, semi-and fully automatic rifles through M1 Abrams tank (105mm at the time, now 120mm). Through providential timing, I never had to fire a round at a person intending to kill them.

So was all that time wasted?

No -- shooting is a discipline and inculcates care, precision, attention to detail, habits of safety, and commitment to improvement. It forces the shooter to think, concentrate, adapt, and control the body despite outside stimuli.

There's a quote attributed to Thoreau: ""Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."

This describes most hobbies: fishermen and hunters spend far more time walking, studying, observing, preparing, and learning than they do reeling in fish or dragging a trophy.

So it is with firearms -- I've spent 40-50x more time cleaning, dry firing, reading, listening, watching, and learning than on the range. On the range I have to control my breathing, focus on the task at hand, objectively criticize my last shot, and analyze why this shot landed here while that one landed there. When done I pick up spent brass, recover targets, write in a notebook, and make sure the range is ready for the next user.

Few things force humility as quickly as a session on a range. Every shooter -- no matter how accomplished -- leaves thinking "I should have done that thing better. I need to work on that."

This striving to do better is a hallmark of any useful sport or hobby.

Most firearms have as much to do with "killing" as riding a motorcycle has with racing, flying an airplane has to do with strafing and bombing, and operating a lighter has to do with arson.