Indago, I'm going to agree with Conspiriter on his last comment. I don't think any burglar or home invaderwhether they be White, Black, rich, or poor is going to stop to read or listen to anyone's lecture on socio-economics. In any case; we seem to have gotten off of the topic of gun control. I believe the question is whether we support it or not; along with the reasons for our beliefs.
Personally, I am for the side (probably middle-ground) that we should be able to own firearms; but I do think regulation is necessary. I do think that convicted felons should be denied this privelige. I am also for proper firearm training for those who should decide to own firearms. I am also for regulations to control the sort of firearms the private citizen may or may not own.

The purpose of a gun is to kill people. It has no other function, except in the hands of incompetents. If criminals have guns, potential victims need guns to protect themselves. If potential victims are armed, criminals need weapons to protect themselves and so you have an insane arms race in which everyone has to have a gun because everyone else has got one. If nobody had a gun, nobody would need one, it's as simple as that. The "right to bear arms", and routinely arming police officers, just guarantees that criminals must carry weapons. It's a vicious circle and it's completely insane.

Rabbit; I agree with your definition of a gun's purpose. I will even extrapolate by stating that it was only developed for the purpose of making killing efficient-and none other. It was humans that made the leap to use these guns to eliminate other humans.
Like it or not; we cannot un-invent science or technology. This is why I propose stricter regulation (including proper training) of firearms.Firearms will never go away; but I believe proper regulation can offset the good versus the bad in this area.

I do not agree. Guns can also be used for hunting and sport shooting.

So now we blame the tool for the actions of it's users? If these guys had hacked up 21 people would you want to outlaw hatchets?

There's never been an ideal society in history. The expectation is nice, but human nature is faulty, so society is. More people have been murdered and killed by their own governments than from criminals or other governments. That's reason enough to have the second amendment.

I think the victims would have more chance of defending themselves and overpowering him

WHy does this kind of tragedy happen so frequently in AMerica?

Evidence in almost every other western county shows that

fewer guns = fewer gun deaths

Brilliant deduction

Unarmed bobbies just wouldn't suit well in America.

Most people in Britain used to carry guns too.

We realised there was a better way and moved away from that lunatic habit.

Our main motivation was that we didn't want to end up like America