The Unfair Tendency To Blame All Gun Owners For the Actions of A Negligent or Criminal Gun User

I’ve seen a tendency to blame all gun owners after one gun user is negligent, or commits a crime.  This is unfair, and counterproductive:

Unintentional Shootings
First, I’ll address negligent shootings. There are hundreds of millions of guns in the United States, and about 50% of homes have guns.  The overwhelming majority of these people are responsible with their firearms, which is why 1/2 of the country’s population is not killed in an unintentional shooting each day.  Like the millions of other responsible gun owners, I follow the rules of gun safety and proper gun storage.  Just because some people are negligent does not mean that I am an irresponsible gun owner, any more than the negligence of some other vehicle drivers means that I am a bad driver too.

Criminal Acts
Just as fault for negligent shootings should not be imputed upon other gun owners, neither should criminal acts.  Again, the vast majority of American gun owners do not use their guns to commit crimes, but instead keep firearms for self defense or sporting purposes.  It is wrong to blame me or other law abiding gun owners, just because a criminal misuses a gun.  To do so would make no more sense than blaming all computer users because some people use their computers to commit identity theft.

Conclusion
Guns are a tool, like any other tool.  They can be used by law abiding citizens to defend themselves from home invaders, or by criminals to settle a score.  Given the fact that the criminals who misuse guns will not obey gun control laws, and will therefore still have guns, gun control will only serve to disarm the law abiding citizens – leaving them vulnerable to criminals.