Second amendment, self-defense, 'freedom', 'resisting the government', name all you want about reasons for guns, and it's fulfilled by long guns.
The only 'self-defense' not met is walking around with a handgun on you. And the fact that there are OTHER, criminal, hostile, people walking around with handguns far outweighs the benefit to your self-defense. The aggressor will far more often have the benefit of shooting first, of surprising or ambushing.
Today, I was assaulted by a young man who had a crazed level of hostility when told to wear his mask over his nose. I suspect he's a criminal mentality in general, with that level of hostility and readiness to use violence. If he'd had a handgun, there's no reason apparent he wouldn't use it.
We do not need that level of danger, that level of murder, because some idiotic, ignorant, deluded people are in a gun cult mentality, even if THEY don't live around the dangerous people who walk around with handguns and criminal mentalities and tempers.
I'm not anti-gun ownership or anti-gun rights. I'm anti-idiotic stealthy guns that greatly increase the danger and killing for only a small fraction of the benefit in return.
Pro-gun people love to say 'mass shootings are a tiny percent of the shootings, banning assault rifles is just a political feel good move that doesn't fix things'. So, let's ban the crime gun: the hand gun. Now.
I'm pretty tired of America being the worst country around in important areas.
Worst at jailing the most, worst at the virus, worst at gun violence, worst at arming the world in military weapons, worst at taking vaccines apparently. The only defense I know for handguns is mindless, and I have no respect for that position.
I DO have some sympathy for the enormous undertaking it would be practically, and the fact that it would be imperfect, where on occasion, 'the only person with a gun was a criminal'. But overall, the number of killings will plummet. I'm open to reasonable ways to implement it over time and phase it in. And I'm tired of the idiotic mentality of people who don't care unless they are personally affected by the violence.