"Any stats game will never have a clear winner"

True, it's too easy to lie with statistics, even if the statistics are true. Besides 72.6% of all statistics are made up.

"But the biggest problem is that guns are weapons plain and simple. There is no secondary use of guns beyond being used as a weapon."

Exactly. A gun is a weapon. And you nor anyone else has the right to tell me I can't arm myself. Passing gun control laws will only disarm law-abiding citizens who have no intention to commit a crime. Do you really think a criminal who goes and commits armed robbery every Friday night is gonna think, "Oh gee, guns are illegal now, I better stop holding up these Stop n' Robs. I guess I better give up my evil ways, throw away my gun, get a job, start voting, and become a productive citizen."??? No, he's gonna start laughing and think, "Ha, now it'll be even easier to commit my weekly robberies."

"If somehow we could elliminate every single gun on the planet at the same time, the world would be a bit safer. "

Perhaps. But that won't happen, so you can't lopside the equilibrium by taking weapons away from the good people, while anyone who wanted to illegally get one, could. And what about the woman who keeps a gun in her purse late at night? Would she be safer without it? Criminals use guns offensively. So you gotta use one defensively, or you'll get shot.

"And I'm not saying that this is the answer either. Murders would still occur, crime would still exist. We need to address the root problems, clean up the urban areas, and start all teaching our kids better. Only then will things get better many years from now. "

Exactly. Guns are not the cause of any of the evil that goes on in the world. When someone shoots themselves in the head you don't think, "Oh must've been a really depressed gun" or when someone gets murdered you don't think, "That must've been one angry gun." Face it, people are the cause of their own actions.