It seems to me that each of you is saying that violent crime but it is "largely due to drug related activities". What that indicates to me is that the new restrictions on the guns makes my point. Criminals will always get guns. It isn't the availability of guns for legitimate use that is the danger. It is social and economic factors that cause crime and violence. The gun is the tool, but the laws really don't impact the criminals ability to be obtain that tool. They just create a black market, which will always exist.

The shooting in the schoolhouse yesterday doesn't seem to bolster either side's arguments. This guy was a model parent and neighbor carrying around a 20 year old grievance that had festered. He had guns, stun gun, knives. Do you really believe that if the guns weren't for sale he wouldn't have found a way to express his mental illness? Would it have been less horrific with a knife or bat?

I am just not convinced that gun laws aren't a case of treating the symptoms and ignoring the disease.

Mick