Citation

Hsiao T. Think (Lond) 2019; 18(52): 21-29.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Royal Institute of Philosophy, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/S1477175619000113

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Many on both sides of the gun control debate areunder the impression that the best way to settle it isby weighing outcomes in the context of a utilitarian cost-benefit analysis. This article suggests that this way of thinking about the gun control debate is fundamentally mistaken. What matters is not the risk (or lack thereof) that guns pose to society, but simply whether guns are a reasonable means of self-defence when used to resist crimes. What this means is that even if we were to grant the claim that gun ownership decreases average safety, it wouldn't follow that restrictive gun control measures would be justified.

Language: en