I was reading this Quip from John Farnam where a friend of his in the Chicago area told of how thunderstorms hit, the power went out, and some uh… “enterprising youths” decided that the extra darkness afforded to them by the power failure made for an excellent opportunity to break into homes. John’s friend — due to his vigilance, dog, and gun — allowed him to not be a victim. Unfortunately, many others in the area were robbed.
This was something rather typical and mundane — a power outage.
Look at how quickly and easily “society” broke down and failed. What a thin veneer civilization really is.
There are those that question the need for guns, especially “big scary guns” (e.g. AR-15, AK-47). Consider Hurricane Katrina. Consider the L.A. riots of 1992. No, we may not have massive uprising (yet), we may not have war on our soil (yet), but we certainly do have bad things happen, be they on the scale of Katrina or just a neighborhood power outage. Either way, good people need a way to stand strong against those bent on bringing injury and harm. We all appreciate technological evolution (how did we ever manage before smartphones, right?), and when it comes to being able to stand strong, guns are the best technological evolution of tools for this purpose.
Stuff From Hsoi 
I’m all for guns, for those citizens that legitimately want/need one for for self protection. I also believe in a good (large) knife and/or (real) sword for in-home defense. While it may not be much of a deterrent against burglars armed with guns, a good bowie knife (think Crocodile Dundee), broadsword or katana in hand is more than enough to scare off most any prowler, or to remove their ability to do harm, if they are persistent. Also, (I know I’m going to get lambasted for this comment), you hear of far fewer cases of some kid accidentally taking a friend or family member’s life with a katana or other sword, than with a gun.
I don’t discount the utility of knives. I carry numerous ones and own many more. However, the reality of a knife is it’s only useful in close quarters — they have to be upon you. A firearm is able to traverse distances beyond the length of my arm. If someone is attacking, I want to be far away from them! If they are closer to me, they have more ability to inflict harm upon me. If I can be far from them yet get them to stop their attack well, all the better for me! Knives still have their place, but overall, firearms trump.
The other issue is “scaring off”. I don’t like to bank on bluffing. Sure, if they can be scared off, that’s great! All the better. However, I cannot know nor guess what some invader/attacker’s motives will be, or if they’ll be scared off by the sight of something or the sound of something, or intimidated or whatever. I need something that can provide me with advantage, should the visual not work.
Who said anything about bluffing? With a blade in my hand, if some intruder tried to close on me, there would be no ‘bluff’ about what I would do to them.
Again, I do agree that guns are more formidable weapons and definitely have their place, but they are potentially less… precise in nature. I just think that there is less chance of accidentally killing the wrong person – especially someone that is a perceived threat but that turns out to be harmless – with a blade. Of course, just like with a gun, some level of training is necessary for someone to be effective with a blade. However, a blade in the hands of someone with insufficient training and/or experience is a LOT less dangerous than a gun in the same circumstances.
Of course, again, the downside to using a sword is that if the person who is attacking you has a gun, the sword is of little use. But it is better than being bare-handed.
The bluff is thinking that seeing something is going to scare them off. It’s like the much touted “sound of a racking shotgun” as being enough to scare someone off. Well, it might, but can you guarantee it? You don’t know the state of the “dude”… someone hell bent on destruction, high on drugs, etc. may well not care what you’re holding in your hands. If you’re going to pull something, you better be willing to take it all the way and not count on “displays” to win the day. Obviously you’re willing, so that’s good. 🙂
I’m not sure how imprecise a gun is… I’ve done work with swords, with knives, with guns. In the end, it all comes down to the person using the tool, amongst other factors (because the unknown and uncontrollable will always creep in). Damage to the unintended can happen, no matter the device. Proper use of any tool demands education and practice.