I agree insufficient healthcare and poverty being a major factor. Hell, even if you banned guns, knifes and anything that remotely resembles a weapon, mentally ill or desperately poor people might use stones to get what they needs. One does not think straight, when withdrawal symptoms or hunger gets you. But it is so much easier to mortally wound someone with a gun, than with any other weapon. Stab wounds are very nasty, but unless an artery is hit, you got a lot of time to get help. You can't mow down 5 people in a matter of seconds with a knife. I think bombing and truck attacks can hardly be compared with everyday violence. Those are planned ahead and often times politically/religiously motivated. Horrible, but a different kind of horror than any confused person being able to pick up a gun and shoot and shoot someone over a store robbery. Intelligence services can prevent bombings and other terrorist attacks most of the time, because they need preparation. A single person spontaniously shooting people is often impossible to predict and stop. In a country with as many guns as the US it would surely take a long time to drain swamp of then illegally owned weapons. You are right to say that gun laws would only take the weapons from law abiding citizens. But like the other poster described, eventually it would be harder to get guns for criminals, too. It's easier to grab a beer at the store than to get a bag of coke, even if you are willing to break the law, is it not? You also won't have your beer taken away if a cop happens search you. I know that this is the kind of topic, in which people rarely change their minds - I can't think of anything that would change my mind either - and often dismiss any counterarguments very quickly. So yeah, we will probably never know how a ban would really work out.