I see exactly three and only three legal reasons to own a gun:
1. Self Defense (saves lives and bodily injury)
2. Recreational Shooting (Hunting and Target)
3. Collection (make mad bank on Class III weapons)
So with the exception of 2 (if you consider shooting animals to be killing, i don't). Self Defense is meeting force with force so it is a zero sum game. Either the bad guys get hurt or you do. I'd rather not have the bad guys. And
research shows that for every justifiable execution of a criminal (police and death penalty) prevents seven to eight more murders. So civilian justifiable homicide have at least that same effect. So by using simple math and logic, we now prove that the use of self defense SAVES lives if you look at the tally sheet.
-Gryph