Self defense is a legitimate constructive use of a gun. Target practice is also legitimate constructive use, unless you also consider martial arts to be not constructive. Hunting, particularly for those who eat what they kill, or hunting varmints, is a legitimate constructive use, ethics of hunting being extra-topical and not relevant in a discussion specifically of firearms.
Maybe 99.99, maybe 99% of guns are also used or possessed for those good reasons, or simply collecting. Suppose 100 homicides a day are carried out in the U.S, although last I looked it's somewhat less than that. How many guns are used at firing ranges and for hunting? Perhaps 10,000, perhaps more.
That's true about knives. Yet the UK has banned carrying any knives other than non-locking pocketknives in public, even for utility. [1] The problem with no lock, is that the blade has a tendency to snap shut on your fingers.
Maybe 99.99, maybe 99% of guns are also used or possessed for those good reasons, or simply collecting. Suppose 100 homicides a day are carried out in the U.S, although last I looked it's somewhat less than that. How many guns are used at firing ranges and for hunting? Perhaps 10,000, perhaps more.
That's true about knives. Yet the UK has banned carrying any knives other than non-locking pocketknives in public, even for utility. [1] The problem with no lock, is that the blade has a tendency to snap shut on your fingers.
[1] http://www.goxplore.net/guides/Knife_law_%28UK%29#Carrying_K...