Obviously, I disagree. My Dad was military, my husband was military, my only child is a Security Officer (not a guard)(yes he is armed) for the Dept. of Revenue. I have been trained, much more than the average person. The thing is, crime is not committed by the majority of people. You are asking law abiding citizens to give up their right to protect themselves and their property, because of the minority of the population that commits crime.

If you do a little research you find that in 2013 (the latest data I found records for) there were 698 people in jail or prison for every 100,000 citizens. That is .698 of a percent. Less than 1% of the population have committed crimes serious enough to be incarcerated. Of that number statistics disagree on how many are in for non-violent crimes, but as high as 60% are believed to be in for minor crimes (weed) So you are asking the 99+% of the law abiding citizens to give up the right to protect themselves, because no one has the time or the resources to spot the few who MIGHT cause problems.

Everyone had guns when I was growing up, you didn't hear about mass murders with automated weapons. You rarely heard about a murder period. There has to be a reason for the difference. Might be because tv and movies were not filled with the glorious lifestyle of drug dealers. Everyone could afford medical care, few people did without food because we took care of each other and everyone in the neighborhood grew food. We weren't made to feel like pond scum because we couldn't stretch a tiny paycheck to make ends meet.

I have never shot anyone and hope I never have to. But you can rest assured if I ever shoot someone, it will be because they are planning on killing me if I don't. I won't give up my gun because if we do, the only people who have guns will be the criminals because they will never give up theirs. I refuse to depend on an officer that might make it here in 20 minutes to take care of me.

Plus, I have to wonder why you think people couldn't kill others with a rifle or shotgun? The body count might have been lower, but since you are including pistols in your argument, it sort of defeats your argument because it is hard for someone with a pistol to cause as much damage as this kid did. The incident in Florida was horrible and it never should have happened. But, you are letting the emotions of a mass shooting by an obviously insane person who showed signs of major problems for years prior, roll over into "get rid of all guns except rifles and shotguns.

The logic behind that leaves me at a legitimate loss.