[danpalmer]

Coming from a country where you essentially can't own guns (sport is an exception, and very tightly controlled), it strikes me as odd that anyone would want to own one, for personal defence, or reasons of freedom. And on first thought it seems obvious that tighter gun control will prevent gun crime.

However I think the issue is far more complicated than this. As I understand it, a large number of countries allow guns to a larger extent than my own, Canada being a good example, but they don't suffer from the increased gun crime. Deaths relating to guns here and in Canada are roughly the same, as they are in most countries. But the US is consistently several orders of magnitude worse in gun related deaths than anywhere else.

Perhaps this is not a question of gun control, after all, if people really want a gun there is probably little that will stop them. Perhaps this is an issue of cultural attitudes to guns?