The murder rate with a firearm per capita in the United States is 28 times what it is in the United Kingdom. For all the talk I hear of "banning firearms means that only criminals will have them", I sure don't see evidence of that.
I think this issue is far too complex to state that guns (or a lack thereof) will either contribute to or decrease gun violence. Hell, look at various locations in the United States. New York City and DC both have strict gun laws. The former is one of the safest cities in the United States, while the latter is one of the most dangerous. Obviously, other factors, such as socio-economic status and poverty levels, contribute to this disparity.
So why does the United States have such a high gun violence rate in comparison to other developed nations? I don't know. Maybe it's the gun culture here. Maybe there's something pervasively wrong with American society. But to say that the relaxation or tightening of gun laws will solely reduce or increase gun violence rates in the United States is naive.
