Can someone kill more people with a machine gun or a knife? Do you really have to ask that question? It doesn't take a double blind study...
Also, you say that it "ensures the people can stand up against a totalitarian takeover." But does it? We don't have tanks, RPGs, fighter jets, bomber jets, drones, nukes, etc. We just have some pop pop machines that can't even pierce tank armor. If the government wanted to "turn against the people," whatever that means, how would a few million rifles do anything to prevent or even deter that?
Ofcourse guns can kill more people than a knife, i was only talking about the amount of rampages in Germany, not the number of victims. But with the same logic, they may have drones and tanks but very limited and they still would need manpower to control it, so an army. And against that army, what do you think are you more efficient with a nife or with a gun?
Neither are efficient. I spent 15 years in the army. I commanded a company of 100 soldiers. If you want to bring your militia with your guns against the government, then the army Is going to wipe the floor with you. It’s not just the tanks and the planes and the heavy machine guns that give the military the advantage. It’s small unit tactics, effective command and control systems, it’s training, it’s the works.
Your gun is not protecting you from the government unless you live in a country that’s so poorly governed the military is ineffective. Germany is not that country. You’ve got one of the best armies in the world. Good luck with that fight. You’re going to need it.
there is no way of taking out a totalitarian government without the help of a military group or the actions of a paramilitary movement, one already have the gun power and the other is way more difficult to assamble than to find the guns. I'm from Venezuela and the goverment is still in power not because there are no guns but because at the end most of the people doesn't have the will to use them.
The problem with make it easier to buy guns, in any country, is that the victims are allways gonna be the people who doesn't have or never had the idea to use a weapon. There are allways the hot headed people that happens to decide to have a gun which for me is a pretty bad combination and can be easly avoidable by mental health tests before buying a gun.
That trully determined people to cause harm will find a way to get a gun, Yes, but at least make it hard for them...
What i do agree is that the security personel should always be armed, and it would be a good idea to have trained people in charge of the security of public places.