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Guns aren't the problem, crminals are
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This is one of my favorite non-starters in the whole gun debate.
Ever seen a drug raid? Drugs are pretty calm things, they are just chemicals or weeds or whatever, sitting in little bags. In theory, selling little bags of powder isn't exactly risky for anyone else except the idiots snorting or injecting them. Yet when police raid a drug dealer's house or operation, they go in with 10 - 20 guys, armed to the teeth.
Why? Not because of the drugs, but because of the guns.
Police in the US are having a very hard time fighting crime because they are having to do everything in overwhelming numbers, because they fear that the car they just pulled over might have an armed man inside. Getting pulled over in lala land, and you might have 5 cruisers on scene for a traffic ticket (especially if you are DW
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The presence of guns and the likelihood that the suspects are armed means that the police have to work in gangs. Without the fear of guns, the police could be much more effective in dealing with crime.
Look at Mexico. The police are underpaid and the criminals are well armed (and willing to kill police and judges to keep things there way) How far do you think the US is from this? IMHO it is right on the edge of happening, already 585 police officers have been shot and killed on duty in the last 10 years (
http://www.nleomf.com/TheMemorial/Facts/causes.htm ) and approximately 60,000 a year are assaulted (
http://www.nleomf.com/TheMemorial/Facts/daifacts.htm ) with 15k average injuries as a result.
You may feel safer because you are armed, but you are only armed because you think everyone else is. In the end, you are only pouring gas on the fire.