Yes and no.
It's not that I'm being intentionally obtuse. I just don't understand how any rational person can look at the current climate with guns and say "we need more of them to fix it". It flies in the face of the way we would address almost any other problem.
I get the "well the bad guys will have guns and the good guys won't," argument, but how do you explain the precipitously lower death rates by guns in countries that have instituted stiffer penalties/bans on guns? Of course it will take time to get to that point, especially if we were to do "buy-back" plans and other things to get guns off the streets, but it's much, much better than doing nothing and just waiting for the next mass shooting to take place.
This is especially infuriating because America is the only place on planet earth with rates of gun violence that are this high. You can argue causation or correlation, but I think the former is the most rational thought, clearly there are people that disagree with me on this.
The bottom line is---I understand that we will never have a ban on guns. It's woven into the fabric of our society, and it is apparently a big part of who people are that are carrying. That's why I'm not suggesting a removal of guns or ban on all guns. I merely think taking baby steps---like removing the ban on research about gun violence (absolutely absurd), or limiting magazine capacity, or removing assault/semi-auto/auto weapons from the market, or at the very least make them much easier to obtain, especially for those with a history of a violent past or mental illness.
None of these steps are being taken. We are just being obstinate and waiting for the next one to happen. Then we will send thoughts and prayers, refuse to pass meaningful legislation, argue about it on message boards, and repeat the entire cycle without doing a damn thing about the problem at all.
Finally---the purpose of the 2nd Amendment was originally written to protect against an oppressive or tyrannical government. I understand that the interpretation has changed on that with some SCOTUS decisions, but if we take it at it's real purpose, it's just obsolete. There are no amount of guns that will protect anybody from the government if they really want you dead or to eliminate thousands of people from America. It will do absolutely nothing if rogue, independent fighters are going up against the US Military.