Being European (Italian), I know I was raised in a different society which isn't necessarily better (there are so many problems in Europe as well, starting from racism and immigration), but I will never understand how people can believe that guns for everyone make their lives safer. The fact is that simply no one is really safe when everyone else can get a gun so easily. You can check people who buy guns all you want, but madmen and potential murderers can be identified and isolated so easily only in crappy TV "profiler" crime series. Yes, there are other weapons. Yes, you can even kill without a weapon. So the reasoning is, since there are other things to kill with, we might as well give them a gun?
I've heard and read people tell about how they believe making guns illegal would be dangerous because then only criminals would have guns. Well, I don't know - but that's the way it works in a lot of countries. If the police can't protect citizens, that's where the problem lies. I believe that in a modern country citizens shouldn't feel the need to defend themselves on their own - of course it's an ideal, but it is one that should be approached as closely as possible. Yes, you can get a gun (illegally) in all countries, but at least make it difficult, make it risky so that there's at least a chance they're caught before they act.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...rms-per-capita
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...ers-per-capita
Statistics like these make me feel I would never consider myself safer in a country where firearms are legal and easy to buy. It takes a huge, bold step to get rid of guns, so it will probably never happen, but the way I see it from my perspective, it would really be worth it.