>>If you're going to keep spouting the NRA line at least try to make sure your arguments aren't self-defeating.
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>My car-is-the-deadlier-weapon quote is based on on short story by Larry Niven (I think). But, twist my words all you like, my arguments remain the same. A car is a tool. A firearm is a tool. A lawnmower is a tool. Used improperly, any of them can become deadly. Sitting on a shelf or in a garage, none of them are anything but hunks of inanimate metal.
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>Oh - and by the way, I'm a life member of the NRA. So, yeah, brother, I've had my share of the kool-aide.

Pointing out flaws and inconsistencies is not "twisting your words".

According to your argument, LAWs, Apache helicopter gunships and suitcase fission bombs are tools as well. Oh, but earlier you said LAWs are a no-no, presumably you're not in favour of private ownership of these other "tools" either. So somehow these three things are more than just "tools" and need some sort of "special treatment".

Why do these need special treatment? Whether you want to admit it or not, it's due to the purpose of the devices:

- A car is a transportation device. Engineers go to great lengths to improve handling and control systems to reduce MVAs and the associated casualties to passengers and (increasingly) pedestrians as well. Unfortunately the universe creates bigger fools to offset increasingly fool-proof autos so casualties will never be completely eliminated.

- A lawnmower is designed to cut grass. Again, great pains have been taken to make them safe to use. Again, in some exceptional circumstances Darwin will continue to ensue.

- The types of guns we're talking about here (handguns, assault rifles etc.) are designed to kill people. Great pains are taken to make them as reliably lethal to the intended victims as possible. LAWs and nukes have the same design philosophy.

What it really boils down to is "where you draw the line". You say (some) firearms are OK for Joe Average to own, I disagree. It's unlikely we're going to see eye-to-eye on this.

You started this thread with a comment on Canadian response to the latest gun violence in Toronto. You wondered how our politicians could be so stupid as to believe the US has anything to do with it. Well, for a start, there's a good chance the gun(s) used were manufactured in the US. If they'd been stopped at the border a 15 year old girl would be alive today. And if every Canadian citizen on that crowded pedestrian mall had been packing a gun (i.e. NRA nirvana), the outcome would only have been a heck of a lot worse.