We have gun laws here as well, the problem is the government is trying to regulate it more and more. One of my brothers collects guns and simply uses them at gun ranges and with 3 little children and a drug dealer moving in across the street I can promise you my brother makes it known he has a large amount of guns to his neighbor and the guys customers. It's an unfortunate situation but when you have people literally living across the street dealing drugs I am sure they have guns and who knows if they are "licensed" so is my brother to limit his protection to a gun that can only old 12 rounds? Nah, maybe some people will take there chances where others won't.
It is our constitutional right to bear arms to protect ourselves from enemies/aggressors/thieves, etc. There will never be an agreement on gun rights and now you see the government here intervening yet again on our rights. Where I grew up most people had some kind of guns (hand guns, hunting rifles, hell even cross-bows) and you would not find crime in my neighborhood simply because breaking into one house you NEVER know what the people might have as far as protection goes.
As far as the news goes on gun violence in the states I have a couple theories on why I think its blown out of proportion: Our media covers it more than lets say, Mexico covers their gun violence. They have more gun murders than we do I believe and guns are banned there. Not sure what the stats are to be honest but I recall them having a higher gun murder rate than we do. Washington DC where I live (well I live in Virginia now but lived/worked in DC) and guns are banned there but guess what, DC has one of the highest murder/crime rates in the country. Bad guys will always find a way to get a gun, the good guys now find it more and more difficult and with fewer choices to protect themselves. The only people that don't follow the laws are the criminals and that therein lies the problem: limited gun/ammo purchases limits the good guys to protect themselves, go hunting, shooting for sport, etc. But I promise you the bad guys will always find guns regardless of the laws.
As far as assault rifles go, fuck the haters. If a US citizen wants one we should be able to get it. I know PLENTY of people that have assault rifles and aren't in law enforcement. I can tell you they sleep better at night than I do, hand gun or not. Bottom line: it's our constitutional right to protect ourselves b bearing arms. Unfortunately for our idiot president and his goons they try to take our guns away but we suddenly see them in the hands of Mexican drug cartels that kill more of their own people or in the hands of terrorists. The irony is, our own guns kill more people overseas through arms deals than US citizens killing US citizens.