I don't think that is obvious at all. I would assume most illegally owned guns have been legally owned in the first place so gun laws can have a big effect.
Only if you are talking about basically totally disarming society. Note some problems with this:
1) There are something like 300-600 million firearms in the US. Attempts to disarm only get the guns from those who are law abiding, you disarm the defenders without doing much to the criminals.
2) You probably increase the death rate as you have made people less able to defend themselves, but done basically nothing to most murders because you didn't succeed in disarming the criminals.
This isn't common today, but considering ongoing the efforts to make 3d-printing Glock and Hi-Point frames easier I can't imagine it will remain uncommon forever. These aren't exactly hard to find, see [0].
And for those who think you can just ban all other gun parts and fix the problem, I present to you the FGC-9 - a pistol-caliber carbine manufacturable in your basement with a 3d printer, metal bar stock, and some high-pressure pipe. Semi-auto, rifled barrel - the works. [1] Is it a trivial process? No. Is it going to get easier and produce higher quality results with time? Yes.
There was a terrorist in Germany that built a whole arsenal of home made weapons. He tried to storm a synagogue but since he couldn't get access to real gun powder he had to get a substitute. Subsequently he failed to bust the door open and just shot a white passerby and then he went to a kebab shop to shoot the clerk. Considering his goal was to kill 30+ jews this is a pretty good example how gun control saves lives.
> he failed to bust the door open and just shot a white passerby
> a pretty good example how gun control saves lives.
It sounds like the door saved lives. He was still able to shoot people. It doesn't sound like gun control laws saved any lives; maybe the building codes did.
Personally, I'd also put that down as an example of how a fixation on guns leads to failure. A truck attack or bomb might have been far more devastating.
Especially since it sounds like his substitute gunpowder worked.
Seconded. Against these idiots I think if anything guns are a safety measure. Using a large vehicle (rent a moving truck, load it with something like concrete blocks from your local hardware) and ram is actually more deadly than most mass shootings. Guns only have an advantage if you seek specific targets rather than simply a death toll.
1) There are something like 300-600 million firearms in the US. Attempts to disarm only get the guns from those who are law abiding, you disarm the defenders without doing much to the criminals.
2) You probably increase the death rate as you have made people less able to defend themselves, but done basically nothing to most murders because you didn't succeed in disarming the criminals.