Not to mention, how does getting rid of guns prevent determined individuals (i.e.: criminals) from getting their hands on them?
What it does stop is opportunists like most of the kids that commit these heinous crimes from easy access to guns..
Hardened criminals have the contacts, nobodies that have a brain snap don't, but because the guns are so easy available, its easy, too easy. If my kids had to go through metal detectors and have armed guards at their school i would be looking for a new country to live in. And just for some clarification, i am quite competent with a gun, my brothers in law were Australasian trap and skeet champions, so i am not a anti gun loony, big difference being, in my country i don't need a gun to feel either safe or to defend myself..... I would have loved to see the a-hole in the cinema shooting not long back try to stab all his adult victims, not even close to the same thing...
And the stabbing was done at the entrance gates to the school... that couldn't happen at the front doors of a movie theater???
And I don't think people on the opposition are gun-grabbing nutjobs either. Nor am I some crazy Western PA hillbilly hick with a gun warehouse--actually, I don't even own a gun. But I do always have a knife on hand and do plan to get a conceal carry permit
I understand where you are coming from and what you are saying. We have the same goal; to stop people from using guns in horrible and disgusting ways. However, what it all boils down to: will making firearms illegal stop gun crimes?
To which I ask: Does making cocaine and heroin illegal stop drug dealers and addicts? Ought we make all heavy and/or sharp objects like knives or arrows (or even shovels) illegal so nobody can kill someone with them as a weapon either?--ridiculous, I know; but it makes my point. Whether you are purchasing an illegal product or taking a life, it all rests in the hands of the individual. If a person has a lack of morals they do seemingly irrational things and NO amount of human laws or restrictions are going to stop them. That is the power and responsibility of being a human in general. Hence, the responsibility of gun owners to protect their fellow man, keep their firearm secure, and instruct their children (or whoever really) on the immense danger and responsibility of owning/possessing/using one.