Is the damage to society from guns worth the freedom to have guns? As someone who has never owned a gun and somehow manages to navigate this scary, scary world without one, I see the scale weigh on the side of too much damage.
The damage to society...or whatever you want to call it...is being done by a very small faction of society. Do millions of people who don't engage in criminal behavior cave in and surrender a Constitutionally protected birthright because of the actions of a few...or because of something that some whackjob might do at some point in the future?
Very well. Let's ban the sale of gasoline in plastic jugs because somebody might construct a firebomb. That would necessitate home delivery of fuel for our lawn mowers and string trimmers, et al and hang the cost. Then we'll have to restrict the sales of garden hoses and plastic jugs because they could be used to siphon gasoline out of a fuel tank and then used to construct a firebomb. Then, of course we have to strictly control the sale and possession of matches and Bic lighters because firebomb. And then, there's the glass bottles and old rags...but you get my drift.
Mayor Bloomberg has decided that New Yorkers are too fat...so he wants to ban the sale of soft drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces in order to force people to lose weight. I guess it never occurred to him that they could just buy two 16 ounce drinks 15 minutes apart...or maybe even arrange for a straw buy and make off with their contraband Dr. Peppers, careful to hide their faces lest the surveillance cameras identify them.
The British banned pointy knives. Unless they also ban possession of grinding wheels and files, there's nothing to stop the British people from making dull knives pointy. Homo Sapien Sapien clawed his way to the top of the food chain by being a toolmaker, after all. It's hard-wired. Where does the banning stop in the futile attempt to control people?
Is it starting to occur to you that banning objects isn't the way to resolve the problem? It should, because where there's a will, there's a way. If a man decides to obtain or create a weapon, he'll find a way. If he is determined to drink too much Dr. Pepper and eat too many Big Macs...he'll find a way. The Volstead Act banned the sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol...and people drank themselves stupid every day.
Thumbing one's nose at intrusive government regulations is a fine, old American tradition...and it's not likely to go away.
A glaring example of this was observed when the government was making noises over light bulbs, and gave consideration to banning the manufacture and sale of incandescent bulbs. The response was immediate and overwhelming. Three days later, you couldn't find an incandescent bulb anywhere. The people made a run on'em.