While I am not a gun owner, I'm acquainted with many people who are and from casual conversations, I've gotten the impression that many gun owners don't think about their weapons all that much. In fact, several neighbors have told me that they go to a range 2 or 3 times a year, clean their weapons and store them safely.

Perhaps the loudest voices in the gun rights debate are a relatively small percentage of gun rights advocates. Clearly, the NRA is a small but loud and powerful lobby, but even many gun owners reject their militant positions. I've read that 90% of Americans are in support of some kind of stricter gun control laws, i.e., more substantial background checks. Could this anecdotal experience be reflective of any general trends? I don't now but I'd be curious to hear others' thoughts.

I believe the NRA has about 5 million members, whereas over 20 million Americans own "assault weapons" (or far more if you use the proposed new California definition), and 50+ million own over-10-round magazines. Probably 75-80 million own guns that are banned in Australia. For perspective, about 16 million Americans hunt in a given year.

I think guns would be a lot less front-and-center in the national conversation if the prohibitionists weren't constantly trying to ban the lawful ownership of the most popular ones.

Uncomfortable truth, many causes of gun violence...

...but only one constant, the wielder of the gun!

Perhaps the wielder of the gun...
...didn't know it was loaded
...didn't expect the bullet to go through the wall
...thought the backyard shooting range was safe
...was radicalized by ISIS
...never expected the kids to find it
...was radicalized by Christian LGBT hate sermons
...woke from a PTSD dream to find a dead wife
...was radicalized by racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynist, conspiracy deluded neighbors
...was mentally unbalanced
...was jaded by onscreen violence and sought a better 'rush'
...was radicalized by NRAterrorist leaders
...needed a bigger ego
...needed to blow out own ego's brains

WHATEVER- the gun is the constant

Gun violence is a public health issue
Gun violence is carried by gun wielders
Until our leaders figure out what is going on in this country, gun wielders need to be profiled and quarantined,
until shown that they are not a public health risk

...haven't committed a crime?

Funny how the same folk that don't like the 2nd aren't too fond of the others either, when it comes to firearms and their owners?

BoR is merely a guide to the control mindset

Gun wielders (owners) to wear an identifying symbol on our clothing until we are all safely quarantined in ghettos?

Because more often than not, the "problem" gun wielder is stopped by - wait for it - another person wielding a gun. And if this is true, how can GUNS be "THE problem" when they are often "THE solution"? They can't be both.

Which brings us back to focusing on the INDIVIDUAL. The Orlando shooting high-lighted a significant failure of law-enforcement. They had the guy, but they let him go and then stopped surveilling him. THIS failure is what we need to get to the bottom of...

People were not allowed to leave the (then small) city while exhibing symptoms of the lethal disease. Enforcement was "executed" where rail lines intersected the city limits using a deputy armed with a shotgun; hence the expression "shotgun quarantine."