Answer me this.

[Premezilla]

Guns don't kill people. 9 millimeter holes in the head kill people.
I think that guns can be effective when used properly. Guerillas and Extremists knocking at your door would have a stronger desire to leave you alone when faced with a barrel of a 12 gauge shotgun than with a polite request to vacate the premises. However, if everyone and his brother adopted this approach, we'd have empty streets and broken venetian blinds.
Should a situation arise in which the United States disintegrates, I'm sure guns would take on a much more important approach, and that more people would purchase them.
However, until that time, most people feel that the need for a gun is less that the risk of accidentally using or misfiring a gun. Both approaches sound feasible in the right context.

On another note, I think that people need to be smart about the whole "right for guns" issue. I mean, look what happened at Columbine. Kid brings gun to school and kills other kids. I'm betting that those kids hadn't gone through gun education. Now, I know gun education would probably mean nothing (I know that Driver's Education does not guarantee an improvement in driving skills) and in some cases, forcing people to sit through lectures they have no desire of hearing can only aggravate the situation. However, forcing public awareness to consider the issue is often enough to raise public interest in said issue. Take, for example, today's struggles between various politicians, the ESRB, and kids buying violent videogames. Although the law (is it actually a law?) that prohibits stores from selling Mature-rated games to kids under the age of 17 is not necessarily enforced in all areas, the fact that the issue has become a national one has raised parents' awareness towards what their kids are playing. Therefore, even though the law may not be enforced, an increase in parent involvement sometimes works just as well.
Of course, there will always be the kids that sneak out and give a friend 50 bucks to buy the game for them, but then again, haven't we all snuck through a loophole at one time or another?
I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that sometimes, raising public awareness can be a more effective weapon than a bullet from a revolver. A couple billion people working towards a cause can accomplish a lot more than a bullet can.
Unless, of course, the person is the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and the bullet was the assasin's one that sparked WWI. (I may have completely embellished this fact.)

By the way, I meant this post as a completely non-offending one. The mood of the Lounge the last few posts has been somewhat grim, and I was trying to lighten up the situation. My apologies to anyone offended by my question.