This is philosophy bytes with me, David.
Edmonds, and me, Nigel Warburton.
Philosophy bytes is available at www.philosophybytes.com.
Philosophy bytes is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy.
Guns can, of course, be lethal and frequently are, but the same can be said about cars.
Is there a better argument for controlling private ownership of guns than there is for cars?
Many law abiding Americans believe that they have a moral right to own firearms, even automatics.
Jeff McMahon, like most philosophers, denies this.
No surprises there.
But he believes that philosophers should take the trouble to show the gun lobby why they're wrong.
Philosophy bites examines the calibre of his arguments.
Geoff McMahon, welcome to philosophy bites.
Thank you.
The topic we're talking about today is gun control.
Now, I guess the most trivial reason people give for wanting to own guns is for sporting purposes.
They want to hunt.
They want to shoot targets.
That's right.
And I think that's a major motivation of most of the grassroots supporters of the National Rifle association in the United States.
In my view, these are not very strong reasons for recognizing a right of private gun ownership.