Guns don't kill people. Ideas do.

No. Ideas are powerless without a mind to engage, enforce, propagate them. People kill people. - Mo Kargas

I don't think "ideas" has ever been listed on a death certificate as "cause of death". - Rochelle

Wow - friendfeed is still alive :-) - Robin Barooah

Do people without ideas kill people? - Robin Barooah

Depends on what your concept of an idea is. People can kill each other for no discernable reason. - Mo Kargas

People kill people, but guns and ideas help. - John (bird whisperer)

mo - do you think that's true for a majority of killings? - Robin Barooah

I cannot say, since I don't have statistics on that. I will say that people kill each other usually for a 'reason', however bent such a reason is. - Mo Kargas

If there were no guns, people would just use knives and hammers. Or rocks. - ωαřмaiden ❤Bassetmom❤

This is incorrect. The only way ideas can be used to kill is with Mind Bullets. - Will Higgins™

Ridiculous, by now that base NRA cliche holds no meaning someone has to pull the trigger of the GUN which kills people. & people aren't rushed to the hospital for an idea wound to the chest. - sofarsoShawn

with all due respect shawn it's not 'ridiculous' - but I'll agree it's hyperbole. I'd have thought it was obvious that I didn't mean that ideas themselves are used as weapons, but that ideas drive people to do a lot of killing, some of which involves guns. - Robin Barooah

perhaps I should have avoided the trigger word 'guns'. I don't pay a lot of attention to mainstream debates about such things. This certainly wasn't meant as a defense of the NRA, or an argument about gun control. More that we should pay just as much attention to the other ways in which our ideas cause can death. - Robin Barooah

Again, it's not the idea itself. Even the most extreme idea is nothing without the free will to enact it. The idea is an excuse, responsibility lies in the enablers action. - Mo Kargas

mo - if you are trying to say that we are responsible for the ideas we choose to act on, then I agree with you wholeheartedly - Robin Barooah

I'm saying we are responsible for what we do with those ideas. Killing people because of an idea still puts the responsibility on you, as you chose to enact it. - Mo Kargas

does that make the people who carry out the death penalty individually responsible for the deaths of the convicts? - Robin Barooah

@Robin In my opinion, yes it does, since they enable the ideas and laws of the state. Same deal for soldiers. You enable the idea, the law, by committing the deed. It's still "you" that has done it. - Mo Kargas

Society's perspective on it is irrelevant. It's always your choice to enable an idea or law. No man is a marionette, where the idea pulls strings that activate his arms or legs. - Mo Kargas

doesn't that assume the capacity to question the ideas that one receives from others? - Robin Barooah

Indeed, it does and I believe every single person has that capacity (with the exception of people with physical damage). Wether it is encouraged or not is debatable. - Mo Kargas

in order to exercise that capacity, don't you have to be aware that you have it? - Robin Barooah

And who isn't aware of such a capacity? If you're not aware that your actions can affect your world, something is terribly wrong. Exceptions to the rule. - Mo Kargas

I meant the capacity to question the ideas on which you base your actions. I suspect most people are aware that they can evaluate their own actions. Are you sure that most people are aware that they can question the ideas they use to make those judgements? - Robin Barooah

I disagree, I believe everyone has that capacity to question the ideas they hold. Regardless, they still control their actions, if they decide to do something, they are still making a conscious choice, wether they choose to recognise it as such or not. - Mo Kargas

hmmm... I believe that that capacity, like consciousness itself, is something that can be developed, or not, depending on the opportunities and efforts of the individual. That doesn't mean that I think that some people are less responsible for their actions than others - just that some people are more limited in their choices because they are not aware of alternative perspectives. - Robin Barooah

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