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We have to remember that, despite attention from the media rivaling that of missing Malaysian airliners, the sum total of people killed in rampage-type shootings per decade is about equal to the number of people who die in traffic accidents in America on a single summer day.
You'd have far more impact on the lives of innocent people with a $1,000 fine for texting and driving. I also would guess that increased penalties on those who drink and drive has had an enormous impact.
I don't own a gun. I don't want a gun. I don't get warm and fuzzy thinking about my neighbors owning machine guns (and I'd bet at least one of them does).
But I view gun restrictions as somewhat similar to abortion restrictions. That most attempts to restrict gun ownership are a slippery slope toward an authoritarian control.
And I view restrictions as somewhat pointless. Many of our larger urban areas have the strictest laws against gun possession. Yet the murder rates are much higher in many of these areas.
As for restrictions on the mentally ill, I'm just not sure how that would work. But I am for restrictions on felons and my guess is that people who dangerously mentally ill - at least to a point where we would consider invoking this type of law - are already felons.
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