^^^ But that's the simple way of looking at it.
Watch some American Old West movie gun fights. Two guys would face off in the street, maybe 50 to 100 feet apart. At some unseen signal, they would draw their guns and fire at each other. Sometimes both would die. sometimes neither.
Why is this important? Because if they were dueling with scimitars, the bigger guy with more muscle and skill would be the winner. In the gun fight, the winner would be the faster one who had better aim. Wuth guns, size doesn't matter.
Look into Old West history. There were many women, some of them very petite, who were great gunfighters. But there were very few women pirates who made it to the top. Why? Because the gun is the equalizer. Swordsmanship might be a bit of an equalizer, you can easily find many swordsmen who have enough muscle to muscle their way through with smaller skill.
The gun gives power to anyone who practices... ANYONE. Arm the populace. They will protect each other against the criminal element in their midst.
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