Coley...

I'm not sure which gun killed more people, it's an interesting point/question... But to me, I have no interest in banning simple 22 rifles, because weapon has too many important civilian uses... Many people (including myself ages ago) learned to shoot targets with one. Plenty of hunters young and old use them all the time. And yes, people misuse them as you suggest.

But "important civilian uses" seems to me to be a less apt description of assault weapons. To me the threat they pose to the safety of law-enforcement and the public at large outweighs their value for civilian uses. Which to me is the crux of the issue... For example, I believe a guy with a 6-shot revolver is 99.9% as likely to defend his home successfully as a guy with an assault weapon. So the marginal value there is much lower.

Successful policy shifts -- at least in my view -- should not be judged by ensuring "xxx never happens again". "Never" is an alarmist/politicians word used too much in today's world. So you're right that gun's aren't intrinsically the problem, but I can't agree they "never will be". SOME guns are SOME of the problem, I believe. And if we can address that, in my view we should.