It's insane. The list is endless, yet nothing is done. I used to buy from an independent FFL ATF Agents routinely violate the law and illegally make copies of Form 4473. But who's gonna hold them accountable? If you say "No," you'll pay the price. In the meantime--as you know--there are scores of gun laws that real criminals violate during the commission of their crimes, and they are rarely prosecuted for those violations. Yet we need more laws...
Americans are like the Roman Gladiators placed in the Forum. Rootin tootin their guns for the amusement of the POWERS THAT BE for Democrats , republicans, Billionnaires.... Of course organized rooster and dog fights are ILLEGAL but better that that HUMANS are on the table with no flinching of the eye. Good for business, the markets are rising. All is good in AMERICA. ****/// God forbid this violence was done to a dog, EGAD a puppy!! But humans, we are immune to the School shootings.
A better question might be why we have so many fools in the arena these days. I don't have a definitive answer for that, except to note that most of them are in areas that have been heavily controlled by anti-gun Democrats for decades. Gun violence is rare in Northern Maine, where nearly everyone has at least one gun, and usually more than that, and where we don't even need a permit to carry a concealed weapon. To be sure, we have a criminal element but they rarely resort to gun violence.
Let me try to answer your question. I, too, grew up in an area where everybody had a rifle. Many of the farmers had one in the pickup; they might encounter a cayote or a stray dog chasing the sheep. I still have my 22 that I got as a birthday present at 11 or 12. The training was extensive. a gun was ALWAYS treated as loaded. When climbing through a fence, the rifle was laid on the ground before climbing through. A rifle is never pointed at anything you don't intend to shoot. We didn't have pistoles, since (according to Dad) they are only used to shoot people, and since we don't intend to do that.... Your question: guns have become a fetish. It's the zeitgeist. With guns lying around on the kitchen counter and in cars (to be stolen), they find their way into the hands of the idiots. And we have to face it: some are waiting for a chance to shoot someone/thing.
These people are found mostly in cities and states that have been heavily controlled by gun-banning Democrats for decades. I think that's the root of the problem, not the gun.