How is a gun a 'tool'?

[A Theist]

Again, you are taking a semantic approach to the term 'tool' that simply does not exist in the wide scope of the debate until it is specifically questioned. When you say a gun is 'only' a tool, a comparison to mundane tools is certainly implied and what the speaker hopes the listener thinks, though the comparisons tend to other mundane items such as cars or household chemicals (CUZ THEY CAN KILL TOO). A 'tool' just like any other. Except there are no other tools used primarily to maim and kill people, which is the sole function of many varieties of guns.

The honest approach would be to call a weapon a weapon and justify why people need weapons, instead of suggesting (of course nobody ever says it outright, that would just be stupid) that guns are benign items which are no more dangerous than any other household item.

Except there are no other tools used primarily to maim and kill people,

A 2011 FBI report showed that more people were killed with Hammers and clubs than with rifles and shotguns...

In 2011, there were 323 murders committed with a rifle but 496 murders committed with hammers and clubs. There were 356 murders in which a shotgun was the deadly weapon of choice.

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/01/0...-shotguns/

Weapon of choice which was used primarily to maim and kill people...