A gun is designed for one thing, to kill.

It can be used for target shooting, it can be used as a paper weight, or as a hammer, but it is designed to kill.

from the NRA apologist crowd that deadly weapons are not "designed" to be lethal except in certain circumstances (as determined by the holder) is illogical on its face.

The gun nuts are correct when they point out that someone inclined to kill can do so with almost any implement. The reality however, is that a gun is used more often than lawn furniture because it is so efficient at killing from a distance, and very efficiently without to much exertion on the part of the killer. In other words, a gun is designed to make the job of killing quick and efficient.

Using targets to improve one's skill at killing has been around since Man first picked up a club (also designed and used for killing).

If you notice, it's cities with high population densities that are more likely to want gun control.

People in rural areas don't experience the problems as frequently, so they're less likely to see the problem.

There's naturally less "freedom" when population grows.

http://billmoyers.com/content/isaac-asimov-on-his-faith-in-the-power-of-human-reason/

MOYERS: What do you see happening to the idea of dignity to the human species if this population growth continues at its present rate?

ASIMOV: It’s going to destroy it all. I use what I call my bathroom metaphor. If two people live in an apartment and there are two bathrooms, then both have what I call freedom of the bathroom, go to the bathroom any time you want to and stay as long as you want to for whatever you need. And this to my way is ideal. And everyone believes in the freedom of the bathroom. It should be right there in the Constitution. But if you have 20 people in the apartment and two bathrooms, no matter how much every person believes in freedom of the bathroom, there is no such thing. You have to set up, you have to set up times for each person, you have to bang at the door, aren’t you through yet and so on.

And in the same way, democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people onto the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn’t matter if someone dies.

also the gun lobby's marketing strategy: making small paranoid people feel big, powerful, and in control.

Fear of non-whites.

Let's not forget that the NRA used to be in favor of more gun control. That changed after a racist took over in the 70's and changed the narrative that white people needed more guns to protect themselves from the "scary" black men seen on the news carrying guns in public.