[quote=Huckleberry]
Obviously we’ve been pretty far removed from a tyrannical government…

Honestly what’s the first thing you would do if you were a dictator that wanted to push the US to a hard core socialist/communist government?
[/quote]

There seems to be something slightly contradictory about these two statements. Whatever, it’s your country, but here are three frameworks for viewing the issue:

1) Leave things as they are and accept that rights over-ride homicides.
2) Introduce gun controls in an attempt to reduce homicides.
3) Outright ban on guns in an attempt to reduce homicides radically.

The arguments for all three have been done to death (if you’ll excuse the pun). The problem is not so much that something needs to be done, but with mindsets that are so strong, attempts to change them just entrench each side’s position.

If you wanted to ban guns, it would probably be more fruitful to start with the proposal that open hunting on your fellow countryman is perfectly legal, and widely encouraged. If your bank is foreclosing on your home, you simply extinguish your bank manager. If your neighbor’s dog pees on your front lawn, you eradicate his whole family (including the dog of course). Taking your adversary’s argument to the extreme may, I say may, just help him see things from your perspective. You’d need to be serious, and not let on 🙂