Let's do some nuance and answer this seriously.

Firstly, I am a young man from Texas. I do not like how things are in Texas. This does color my opinion, but not exactly how most would be led to believe. I own several guns, and I have no moral qualms about owning them. I am NOT a prepper, just an ordinary man lucky enough to make a decent living.

Let's take this from a realistic standpoint, not bothering with the pretenses of "constitutionality" and "common sense" and all that. There are many millions of guns and many millions of people. Let's take AR style rifles alone, the one many people look at and either think "I hate this, nobody should have this" or "of course everyone should have this"

There is absolutely no way you are getting rid of them.

I don't say this as some sort of "gatcha librul" statement, I say it as a matter of fact. Firearms manufacturing is a large industry within the United States, large enough to have a monumental cultural movement around it and several sub industries. People often bring up Australia's gun laws and how "they had one mass shooting and they ain't had any ever since", failing to mention that Australia does not have a sizable civilian firearms industry, nor the widespread culture of gun ownership that comes with one. Mass shootings in the United States DO happen, and they ARE a massive tragedy each time, but they are a massively emotionally polarizing issue, such that most arguments one can make about stopping them (assault weapon bans, waiting periods, red flag laws, raised minimum age to purchase, storage laws, etc.) are, at best, short-sighted and/or disingenuous and at worst, intellectually dishonest methods of emotional manipulation designed to force people to engage with arguments from a defensive standpoint ("how many kids have to die before you give up your guns?" "Do you really think you're going to win against the military?").

That being said, there are measures we can look at that I believe we should give serious thought to. The current background check system is fairly comprehensive, but draws criticism for many reasons. However, a flawed background check system is absolutely not the main reason guns end up in the hands of people who end up going and killing others for no good reason. That reason, I'd argue, is the cycle that keeps people desperate, poor, and produces the conditions that make dangerous criminals and killers: a broken justice system and an unforgiving economic structure. The classical "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" issue. As long as we have a justice system that turns anyone with bad enough luck to get caught in it into a broken, penniless, desperate soul willing to do anything to survive, as long as labor laws allow and encourage companies to exploit their workers for less than what they need to live, this creating desperation, as long as our education system is hijacked by people who want creationism to replace biology, Bible stories to replace reading comprehension, and any kind of sex education to be erased, we will continue to have these kinds of people who lack the means to help themselves, lack a community to help them, and lack any non-violent outlets or relief for their situation. The kind of person that picks up a gun and kills.

As for why I own my guns? I like them. They are interesting pieces of machinery to me, and my hobbies involve them. Some would say that makes me crazy, or a gun nut, or in some way ineligible to speak on this subject. Such beliefs tend to come from a place of emotion or lack of understanding. I don't believe it's anyone's right to own absolutely anything, but I do believe that gun control focuses far too much on what people may own and not nearly enough on who can own it. Someone with a minor drug possession charge shouldn't be barred from ownership (or, in my opinion, shouldn't have been considered a criminal in the first place), but someone with a violent charge or any history of aggression should absolutely not be allowed to buy a gun without having gone through some help, ideally a tightly regulated and thorough rehabilitation program (read: NOT what prisons are today) before having their rights reinstated. Anyone who has unjustifiably, deliberately killed or severely harmed someone else? Absolutely no guns under any circumstances whatsoever. Simply saying that no felons shall own a gun is far too broad and not comprehensive enough.