If I may interject, I think an argument can be made that it is manifestly EASIER to kill other people, especially several other people within a short time, with a gun than it is with other methods that are also readily available. It is that ease and simplicity that concerns me and others with a similar mindset. While, like I said, I have no interest in banning guns, I do think that there needs to be a balance between the interest of public safety and the right to own whateverinhell you want, based on potential legitimate uses for those things. For example, automatic weapons have no legitimate use besides killing large groups of people at once, and so there is no reasonably compelling reason whatsoever for ordinary civilians to have them, at least outside of a controlled area like a firing range. (someone wants to fire off something like a M2 .50 cal MG at a firing range, be my guest, I'm sure it's shitloads of fun. You do NOT need one for "home defense" however. rofl)
It is NOT a case of "hurrr, gunsrBAD" or any such nonsense. It's a simple fact, though, that not everyone in this world is responsible. Therefore, nowhere near all gun owners will necessarily be responsible gun owners, and so reasonable restrictions to make sure everyone ELSE stays safe are entirely rational. Sure, you can say "just punish the irresponsible ones", but that simply doesn't cover everything. Given the aforementioned caveat of how easy it can be to kill someone with a gun, even by accident, it is entirely possible or probably that an irresponsible owner may seriously harm or kill someone else with their screwups, and simply punishing them after the fact doesn't undo the damage they have done. Better to try, within reason, to prevent that damage in the first place. For example, like I mentioned before, when I was 6 and at my grandparents' place in the country, we had a 30-06 round come through an outer wall and go right through where my 1 year old brother had been 10 seconds before, because some 18 year old kids were shooting without checking what was downrange. What if my brother was still there? He'd be dead, and sure, we'd have prosecuted the hell out of the guy that did it, but that wouldn't have brought my brother back.
So, I am sorry for those that ARE 100% responsible, but since you happen to be human, and not all humans ARE, you have to put up with restrictions necessary to keep everyone else safe from the whackjobs and careless.
-Arlos