A similar argument against gun control, made by a Libertarian, is that if someone used a stapler as a bludgeoning weapon to kill someone, gun control advocates would suddenly want to start requiring license to use staplers as well.
His argument was based upon the fact that guns, and all weapons, are tools. This argument conveniently ignores logic. As many of you have said, a gun is a tool used to kill, maim, cause harm, or impair another living creature. Guns have no other purpose. Guns cause fear, damage, and can if used improperly, result in accidental death. A stapler, on the other hand is designed to hold sheets of paper together, and if used improperly, results in papers held together shoddily, or with the wrong sheets put together. A staple remover easily fixes this (a gun's damage can not be so easily repaired).
Further:
- A knife, though designed to cause damage as well, makes killing much much more difficult. A knife also can be used to do many other things (like cutting carrots - go ahead, try to use a gun to do something as mundane as cutting carrots). Also, a knife is more easily defended against.
- A car is a vehicle, used to carry people from location to location.
- A crossbow must be reloaded after every shot. An AK-47 is semi-automatic (in one common US variation), and far deadlier.