Yes Paladin, I know that knives are sharp, and that they can maim and kill. I'm also not stupid enough to pick up one of them and try to use it on another person.
Seeing as I'm not the one making the casual arguments in favour of killing people maybe you and others here might want to consider your own advice about deadly weapons.
If I need to explain my point, police are trained to use deadly force. The wise ones, like the one Aristotleded24 mentioned, try to avoid using it if possible. The arrogant and thoughtless ones use it all the time when it is not necessary, and kill people. I figured you'd be aware of this, given your knowledge of firearms and their use. But here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41314562
"Those officers would 100% have been legally justified to use deadly force," said Lt Lutz. "Had they stood their ground a deadly encounter would have been forced at that point. By allowing it to unfold, it ended with an arrest and the suspect is alive. Five or 10 years ago, he wouldn't be."
It is not just relevant to mental health cases.
And no one is arguing in favour of letting people steal whatever they want. How many times to I need to point out this is about avoiding people getting killed.
Why are we even stuck on this point? This is about dealing with the issue of rural crime. Is the best that the three of you can come up with really to give everyone guns and let them shoot it out?