Guns have never been a problem. PEOPLE have. When I was a kid, there were guns in every room of the house except the bathroom. We knew they were for hunting or target shooting, and were not to be messed with otherwise. We knew we would have had our butts kicked, for any abuse of the guns. Parents not raising kids to respect the guns causes a lot of the trouble. Kids not having parents around causes more trouble. If someone pretty much lets the TV raise their kids, that's what they end up with. Violence on TV doesn't lead to gun related crimes. Parents not teaching the kids, from the time they first walk, that there are consequences for their action does lead to these crimes. Also that TV is not real, it's entertainment, or someones version of reality. I have a friend who shot and killed his abusive stepfather as a teen ager in the early 70s. The mother and he and his brothers, in his mind would have died that day had it not been for a shotgun. He saw the abuse getting worse as time went on, and determined that that was the day for it to stop. His mother and younger brother were beaten terribly.The case never even went to court. I used to carry my gun to the school bus stop, and stash it in the rafters til I got off the bus in the evenings, that way I could hunt after school, before even going home. Times have sure changed, and not for the better. Criminals will be criminals with or without guns. Taking guns away, as was said in one of the earlier posts,would leave only cops and criminals with guns, leaving the law abiding, tax paying property owner vulnerable to anyone who wanted to take away their property and/or the safety of their homes. Someone who commits a terrribly brutal crime should be severely punished. Whether or not they had a gun should be irrelevant. They would have found another way, if they were intent on doing bad.