Well I believe it's not the guns that are the problems but the people's mentality that own them and use them for things other than self protection. Here in the UK it's illegal to own a weapon of any kind and is an arrestable offence, not that it stops gun crime from happening.
But then even owning one for self protection can get you in trouble....a couple of years ago a farmer who was 67 and living on his own was broken into by 2 teenagers, scared he used his shot gun to scare them away....one of the boys was caught by a bullet (not serious) and the farmer was arrested for attempted murder while the robbers got away and he was only protecting himself and his farm.
Now on the other hand owning something for self protection might not be a bad idea as the police here are a laughing stock...my sister lives in a high crime rate area and it's noted for drug dealers and all kinds of things...one night someone attempted to break into her apartment when she was home alone....she called the police and they arrived......a week later, she could have been killed! If it weren't for the dog in the apartment next to her disturbing the guy I dread to think what would have happened.
Guns in the right hands or should that be mind and used for self protection (not fun, hunting or fear) are no more harmful than a car, bus or alcohol but put them in the wrong hands and all of these things become killers. In my opinion there should be strickter laws against gun ownership and maybe something like a course has to be taken or something like that.......mind you like Evie said if that persons already going to commit a crime like killing someone then I highly doubt they'd stop because the policeman says they can't carry a gun.
Now onto the shooting in Arizona...well I'm thoroughly saddened by it, it was a huge tragedy and devestation
the taking of any life is.....these sick people that go out and take lives in the name of politics, religion and dominance should get the same treatment back...in my mind if you take a life you get life......not like here in the UK criminals don't care because we practically pay them to commit crimes. I have no idea what jails are like anywhere else in the world or the USA but here they get tv's, games consoles and young offenders are seperated from the older guys and sometimes even get holidays with their families....plus this year our wonderful new government (NOT) have released a lot of criminals because they say the prisons are too packed and it's costing too much...and to top that off they've cut a lot of police jobs.....so less police, more criminals....maybe a gun isn't such a bad idea after all.