[GenXteacher]

As a factual matter, firearms are tools. Specialized ones, at that. Same as a screwdriver or a hammer- you use different ones for different things. All of the above can be used as weapons, too.

[Redcloak]

As I was researching that post, I looked up the etymology of the Latin Arma. The proposed Indo-European root for the word includes the sense that a weapon is a tool. That a-tool-is-just-a-weapon connection is an ancient one.