In Australia, 10,150 firearm related deaths over the 16 years from 1980 to 1995 (from ABS).In US, in 2003 alone, 30,136 Americans died by gunfire (NRA).
Given US is 15 times the size of Oz, that's still more than triple the rate.
In the last day or so I've read a lot of people I would normally assume to be intelligent suggest that if gun control wasn't so strong in the US more VA Tech students would have had guns with which they could have used to stop the killer.
In the case of multiple killing sprees you could say that is true. But in every other sense allowing every person to carry a weapon is insanity.
Should every other person on the school had a weapon, how would the police have know who the killer was? As it was they went after the guy with the gun. What if half the students had pulled a gun and started hunting for the shooter? How easy would it have been for the killer to hide amongst hundreds of "shooters". Should every US citizen be Judge Dread?
I'm sure I've said it before but I'll say it again. Guns are the ultimate weapon, capable of killing instantly. Way before someone has time to think. To kill someone, or yourself, with a knife takes a lot of effort. To kill with a gun takes barely a press of your finger.
It doesn't take much of a leap of logic to know that if every person held a gun there would be many more spur-of-the-moment murders/suicides fuelled by hormones and hate.
How many road rage bashings would be shooting deaths? How many burglaries would end in murders if everyone had a gun? Bank robberies or muggings? Domestic disputes? Football riots?
If you don't agree I'd love to hear your arguments.
To me a gun is little more than an aim-able bomb. Ask your average person if everyone should be allowed to carry bombs around.