It's such a sticky subject and there is no one solution to it. Living in America, I have come across people who live & breath guns in their daily life. They are extremely paranoid everyone and anyone is out to murder them, and so they must be armed at all times. They are especially worried about the government overstepping their bounds (yet it's interesting they have no problem having the government overstep their bounds in other areas, like building interstates).
Each time there is a mass shooting, they point to it and say see? I need my guns to protect myself and my family since America is full of whackos. Then when the gun regulation debate springs up, they point to it and say see? The government is overstepping their bounds.
Rinse and repeat.
Obviously there are Americans who believe gun ownership is a privilege, not a right. And these people are correct. However, the gun culture in America is so entrenched and so humongous, that any deviating from it is political suicide. So senators and reps are content having a few thousand people gunned down every year as long as they stay in office. There are many people out there who equate gun ownership = patriot = Christian and if you ain't 3 out of 3, yer a goddam commie.
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