No, that's the entire point of the statement. The debating of such things is counter to the stated goal weapons are purported to be brought into existence to achieve.

We don't stop people killing and harming each other by figuring out how to kill/harm them (or threaten to do so), by ever more powerful means.

We stop people killing each other by figuring out how to stop them (and us) wanting to do anything remotely like that in the first place.

Unless we change direction, we will end up where we're going.

This seems like a false equivalency between a given individual and the state: I can ask what weapons I'm allowed to have without asking what weapons the state is allowed to have.