One reason why gun control will never be effective in this country is .... drugs.
Drugs are pouring across our southern border, through West coast and East coast ports, and some are coming down via Canada, where every road into our out of this country is not watched. Not only are drugs brought into this country illegally, so are guns. To make matters worse our own AFT ran the "fast and furious" gun running scheme, giving arms to drug cartels, which Holder claimed to know nothing about. When a fox investigates deaths in the hen house one can rest assured that other foxes will not be found guilty. Holder was ruled ignorant of the FF scheme.
Drug gang members do not care about gun laws. They do not apply for permits to purchase them, they do not attend CCW classes, nor do they fill out CHP forms and wait 45 days to get a CHP. They not concerned about muzzle sweeps and do not care who they point guns at or shoot, or who is standing behind their victims when they shoot. They don't even care about the ages or genders of their targets. If they get caught by the police they get a few years prison sentences, if not just a hand slap, and they are back out on the streets packing again, back in the drug trade. Easy money, no work, lots of fun shooting people and demonstrating their "masculinity".
If the Federal government cannot win the war against drugs they cannot win their war for gun control. Law abiding citizens are easy targets, despite the fact that guns are used defensively in America at least over 2 million times a year defending lives and property. But taking all guns away from every law abiding citizen and shutting down all gun dealers and sales will not stop the flow or use of guns in this country by drug gangs and crooks in general. In fact, it will embolden them because they'll KNOW that their victims will be unarmed and they won't face the possibility that an ordinary citizen might respond with a weapon of their own.
Even a person my age can defend himself and others:
I had a .22 Ruger semi-auto setting on the top shelf of my book case, unused, since 1980. I sold it a couple weeks ago. NOT ONCE during the 32 years it sat there did it ever jump off the shelf under its own power, walk out into the street and shoot someone. Blaming guns for crime is like blaming spoons For obesity.
Anti-gun folks like to point to England and other places. The government is so aggressive in England against home owners defending themselves from home invasion, over 50% of which occur while the owners are home, that they have arrested home owners who defended themselves from violent attacks using anything they could grab: golf clubs, fire irons, sticks, pieces of wood, or their fists. If the attacker is injured the police have assisted the attacker in suing the home owner! Needless to say, home invasions in England have increased significantly. I recently read where a woman was attacked and beaten in her own home and all through the attack her only thought was that she hoped she wouldn't be accused of resisting and be sent to prison or lose her home.