FYI - I'm currently engaged in a battle over "The Purpose of Arms" over at the Iron Blog.   My opening argument is currently up and is loosely based on an earlier post on my blog.   An excerpt from the opening statement -

The ultimate goal of arms is for the individual to defend himself, his rights, and his property against other individuals through the credible threat of mortal force. This is a very complex topic so I'll expend some effort here to crisply articulate a small number of core points and avoid the statistical barrage that characterizes so many gun debates.

1. Violence is an intrinsic part of human nature...

For a variety of reasons, I chose to focus on a rights based approach and tried hard to avoid descending into warring statistics (Your sources are biased and leave out x, y, and z!  oh yeah?  well yours left out a, b, and c....   I have a hard time picturing a more boring debate).

The Challenger's opening statement is here.