car accidents used to kill a lot more people, as your research found. then they required people to wear seat belts at all times and the deaths were limited to specific types of accidents. then they required air bags in cars and certain other specific types of accidents began to be survivable. then they required that air bags not kill people after deployment, and people stopped suffocating after accidents. now we have kid car seats, side curtain air bags and a host of other features that are standard now instead of only found on volvo or mercedes.

the point is, we have very clear examples of laws which prevent massacres (australia), and very clear examples of laws which severely minimize massacre deaths (canada). it's just a matter of our legislators having the backbone to pass something that fits within the 2nd amendment framework that does not infringe on the right to own, but is provably effective at limiting the damage of the next rampage. i understand that some versions of the AR-15 can not easily be modified to accept the larger ammo clip. i don't see why similar measures can't be enacted here, except that the NRA thinks more guns with bigger ammo clips are somehow necessary so they fight against any and all sensible restrictions



there are quite a few legitimate reasons to own a gun that "self defense" is not really a reasonable expectation. you can easily defend yourself and/or your property with a sword, a baseball bat, a tire iron, a 2x4, the list goes on and on. i used to carry an 18" long 1/2" ratchet extension with a 3/4" deep socket in my truck and i never had to use it once. if guns are heavily regulated and gun owners can be liable for their guns being used in a crime, there is less incentive to have a gun for protection. however, you could be on a licensed competitive pistol team, you could be an actual hunter, you could be in a lot of things for which it makes sense to own a gun without having to justify its existence with a paranoid fantasy that only a gun can protect you and yours.

that being said, if everyone who owned a gun was required by whatever justification necessary to take gun safety and training courses, i am pretty sure a lot of the problems surrounding having so many guns in circulation could be minimized. at a bare minimum, it should be relatively difficult to get a gun, and it should be as heavily regulated as the auto industry if not more so.