The one that gets me is "It's to stop the government taking over!" That would've made sense when the constitution was written, when people had muskets and there was an even chance that if they wanted to, the people could've overthrown the Government. It is now 2012, your handgun isn't going to amount to shit if the government (for some insane reason) decides it's going to become 1984, the government has Predator Drones, Tanks, Airstrikes, an Airforce, a Navy, Nukes and whatever other Heavy Artillery it has available, if they wanted to take over, they could do it and no amount of NRA members is going to be able to stop them.
The thing is, people are legally and easily able to buy guns, for example The Joker guy, bought all of his ammunition and stuff off of the frikkin internet. Were it not that easy for him to get his equipment, it most likely wouldn't have happened, and although there are criminal means for people to acquire guns, you have to have contacts, likely pay more and have to deal with shady characters to do so.
Criminals are always going to be able to get hold of stuff, but they would have to rob an army supply centre or what not in order to get stuff beyond handguns and hunting rifles. Not only that, some middle class dude with a hand gun is not going to be able to face down a gang packing mac-10s, he might get a potshot off and kill one of them, then he's just going to get riddled with bullets.
Guns don't just magically come into existence, they have to come from somewhere, you can at least impose some difficulty on things by limiting what civilians are allowed to buy, in the UK you can get a .22 rifle after extensive checking and tests, no ones massacaring anything with that, one shot and then he's got to reload, works okay-ish for hunting and shooting ranges and that's about it. Beyond that Farmers may apply for a shotgun license to defend their livestock.
You barely ever get stories of gun massacres in the UK, because no one gets any access to them, so it fucks me right off when people say "Oh well you get knife crime!!11!" Yeah, which may lead to one person getting stabbed, not a massacare where loads of people get killed and horribly injured. Not only that, it's utter hyperbole, you can't take away knives, it's an integral tool to so many things, fishermen, chefs, cooking, etc etc. Guns primary purpose is that of a weapon, a knife is on the other hand a tool.
I agree that you should be able to defend your house, but how likely /are/ you to do that? Most of the time you're going to just have it sitting there, not doing anything, unless you've been trained and are a very calm individual, you're unlikely to be much of a threat to someone willing to rob your house. A gun is not like having a bat, it's a very powerful and scary weapon to be pointing at another human, and you better be sure you're prepared to pull the trigger, or any knowledgeable criminal is going to just going take it away from you.
Cartels and organized crime rings are going to be able to get guns, but your average gas station robber, would likely not be able to get hold of a decent gun if it wern't so easy to just walk into Ammu-nation and buy one.
However on the flip side, there's just so /many/ guns in America at this point, that it's gone beyond just clamping down on selling them, there needs to be a massive overhaul, and I'm not sure what that would be.
And just to add, I'm in a bit of an awkward position, I -like- playing with guns, there's something I dunno... sexy about them. In the same way people like cars, and tinkering with the engines, there's just something about them as technology, the sleakness and that mechanical click, so it's not like I hate guns and want them all destroyed, but as we can plainly see, people are cunts and can't be trusted.
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