But first... a summary.

Before I move on to the next topic, I'll make a short summary of what I've said in the first few posts. Because it was way too long, this is a short version of "Why a gun?".
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First, let me clarify the difference between a need and a want. A common question that is thrown around is "Why do we need a gun?". A gun, or more appropriately a firearm (guns are cannons found on ships and vehicles), is in no way a need. It is not needed to survive, so they are correct in their assumption that we don't need them. However, neither do we need cars and buses to get around, nor do we need expensive phones to talk to each other. A gun or firearm is a useful item and tool that a person would want because it can help them solve a problem. We could do without all of the above items I have mentioned, but life would be very difficult indeed. So we use those tools to improve our quality of life. With or without your realization, firearms are already made use of everywhere to improve humanity's quality of life. There is absolutely no reason not to use a tool that will bring us more benefit than harm, if it brings any measurable harm at all.

Alright, so now I'll tell you why we would want firearms as one of our useful tools in the first place. I subscribe to the trinity of uses, namely: Self Defense, Hunting, and Recreation. Defensive use is the first on the list simply because of the immediate practical benefit. Hunting is a step down because while there are practical uses, especially for those who like the outdoors and camp, it is not as important and as wide ranging to all people as self defense. In Malaysia it might lose much of it's importance as we're too small of a country to have anything real to hunt, but it's there if you want to, big/important animals regulated by authorities of course. Lastly, firearms are useful for just having fun. Many people might prefer another pastime, such as sports or reading books or being a couch potato, but some (such as yours truly) have a taste for bang bang. Provided you have the (easy-to-learn) basic safety skills, one can have lots of fun at an appropriate shooting range (again, because we are a small country and don't have huge empty free plots of land) and can share this fun with friends and family. Provided you are not irrationally fearful of something as inanimate as a hammer, nor do you have a morbid desire to point it at people, you can enjoy a pastime with firearms, and as a bonus it counts as practice for self defense. I will focus on self defense as it is the real area of contention, and the other two uses will come naturally after the first is established.

Firearms have the ability to prevent and protect crime. While diplomacy and peace is the first thing you should consider, many times criminals will not give you that chance. Not all are looking for your money or possessions, so it would be best to be ready to defend oneself from physical (and emotional) harm. Even then, you may not want to give your possessions to them in any case, whether due to needing those valuables badly or for moral. You may also have others to protect like your own family. In that case, a firearm carried with you can make all the difference between a just dead criminal, or a dead loved one or at worst, yourself.

Why a gun? Because it is the one weapon that doesn't require you to be strong or have great skill to be effective. It is an equalizer that allows the scrawniest, shortest woman to stand up to an attacker, a large and muscular man, and win. Neither does it have to end in bloodshed, because the threat alone may be enough to dissuade a criminal, although if it isn't then one can always back it up. You cannot ask everyone to run away as their primary means of self defense, because sometimes there is no escape and because some people are old and disabled too. Statistically, it's a bad way to do it too, according to the British Home Office and their police reports that say that people who defend themselves with anything are injured quite little, those with firearms the absolute least, and among the other methods giving in to the criminal is very likely to get you hurt. Being that Britain has a very anti-gun administration, their word counts double for truth.

Some people might say that using firearms is too drastic an action, or that they belong only in the hands of the police. I say that is absolutely not the case, and such thoughts are born of sheer ignorance, callousness and irresponsibility. First the obvious: It is physically impossible for police to protect you all the time. They are usually somewhere else almost all the time, which is why you have to dial them on the phone in the first place. Even when they do respond, it will also almost never be in time. Anything a criminal can do can be done in seconds, at most a few minutes. It is never wise to trust your own safety to someone who is kilometers away.
It is also not their true job. Police solve crime, and rarely ever stop it. They are there to clean up the mess and find the culprit if possible. If you call them and they fail to save you, nobody can sue them for negligence or wrongdoing, partly due to the first reason above.
Lastly, not all cops are good cops. Some are corrupt, and thus relying entirely on them will turn up some bad apples every now and then. No accusations are made here, but it is the truth.

As echoed by many wisemen, you and you alone are the first person who can do anything for yourself. Nobody can protect you as much as yourself, and if you take responsibility for your own safety, you will come out of life safe and successful. Why do so many people accept the notion that they should leave it to other people to care for them, I do not know. To me, it should be basic instinct and common sense, but apparently for a lot of people they do not realize they are asking another person to risk their own life to shield them, even when they don't lift a finger to defend themselves. All the police get in return is a piddly amount of taxpayers' money as salary.
It is a moral fallacy I do not follow. I will ask the police and authorities for help, but I will not ask them to cover entirely for me, which is supposed to be my own responsibility. It should be yours too as well.

Now, as for what can be done with firearms in Malaysia. The process of getting a license and a legal firearm is overly strict and has arbitrary restrictions. It is usually has to do with how "vulnerable" you are to crime. In other words, if you're rich (and preferably have good connections), you are somehow more likely to be hit by crime than regular men and women, and thus will have a fair chance of being approved. Obviously such conditions make no sense as criminals target all of us every day, and as said before many times for other reasons other than money. It is dangerous not to regulate such an item, but too much regulation is dangerous as well. It defeats the whole purpose of firearms in self defense if the common people are not allowed reasonable access to firearms. The criminals will always have access to such weapons no matter the law, as they break the law for a living, and as the newspapers have shown before, they have their own illegal sources whenever police find them with a cache of weapons. Since we are good citizens of the country, we do not break the law and use these illegal sources of firearms. Thus we suffer because the law is not nice to us by restricting our human right to self defense. That is the whole point of this blog; to generate enough awareness to turn these laws around for the better.

I do not mean to give a gun to everyone, as that would be foolish. I merely wish to open up the possibility to the masses instead of just the elite. However, if most of everyone eligible was smart and responsible enough (not difficult) to pass the licensing test and handle firearms, then that would be ideal. The Wild West was never wild, that is a myth; it was quite peaceful for it's time as everyone respected one another, and evil criminals had a hard time because many good people were armed. Still, it is always the choice of the person whether or not to bear this moderate responsibility. And thus, we go on to the rest my writing. Any questions? The comments button is right there.