doggie said...Stay with me here, we are talking about the
USA gun laws! 
OK, I will take a big step back, stop thinking about our laws etc, this is how I see the laws in the USA from what I have picked up over the years,
The individual states that comprise the USA did not want to have a full time "standing" army- it costs an awful lot for a nation to equip and train a military force.
Each state had its own militia- private citizens with thier own weapons- who were able to be called upon at short notice.
This a very cost effective system- and still is in use in a few countries today.
A primarily self funded militia, and its members need weaponry.
The constitution of the USA was ammended so that authorities could not prevent access to firearms by the civilian militia.
Do not forget- the opening moves of the Revolutionary war was when the British tried to take control of existing militia weapons and supplies, as the Americans were getting stroppy over how the Brits were running the country.
Yonks later the Federal govt took control of the state militias- by supplying and standardizing equipment and training- forming the National Guard Units which are technically controlled by the individual states- and I understand they were only supposed to be used within thier own states for defensive and emergency purposes.
This would have been the time to repeal "2a"- but the second ammendment was written in such a way that it was never intended to be tampered with- it was written to prevent any totalitarian federal control over the individual states.
The Federal govt, each state, each county and municipality have firearms laws- but unfortunately- many do not recognise each other- some localities outright refuse to submit to the federal laws as they believe any laws regarding "2a" are unconstitutional and illegal. Technically- they are correct.
I would love to see the USA at least have a nationwide uniform approach to firearms.
What many people forget is that the United States of America is comprised of a whole bunch of individual countries (states) with a contractual agreement (constitution) to control how much the new federal govt. could and could not do.
Over the years, this federal govt. has nibbled away at the edges of this contract and gained more and more power over the states- which many of the citizens resent.
The USA has something like 50k firearms laws- hitting them with more will never solve thier problems.
As Mark said earlier- until the faults in society are fixed (mental health, employment etc) nothing will change regarding crime and killings.
Stephen.