Yes, politicians have the responsibility to enact laws that effect everyone, this is true. Laws "should" effect the greater good, I also agree. Yet congress is exempt from the laws they make, so would they really care how it effects their constituents? I try not to generalize, but the last few decades it has seemed like members of Congress care less about the people and more about their own well being. They play lipservice to the issues and do nothing. But I don't want to get off track here because that is a completely different issue.
Society in general, I feel, has eroded in the last 20 years. When I was growing up, I learned (and felt) the consequences of my actions. As a result, I slid down a hill on ice and hit a parked car. I went door to door until I tracked down the owner so I could take care of the problem and exchange insurance info. Conversely, kids in the parking lot of my work were playing around my car. I walk out later and find a huge dent in the panel. They ran into my car (or leaned on it or whatever) and they caused damage. They ran away. Now I get to pay for it. There is a general lack of respect in much of the latest generations. Many kids are not brought up to understand there are consequences to there actions. This is a problem with society where people either don't understand or don't care about how they effect other people. I'm talking about individuals minding their own business. I'm talking about individuals respecting each other.And I'm talking about individual's freedom. Freedom to do whatever they want as long as it does not harm anyone else's life or property.
I understand guns are an emotional issue, but they aren't the source of the problem. Murder with any other item is still murder. So let's address the societal source of violence and lack of respect for life.
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I agree with most of what you said, but I still think societal issues are separate from gun control. There will always be criminals but giving them easy access to firearms only makes the crimes they commit easier to commit and amplifies any damage they can do.
Now I personally am for an all out ban on firearms, but I understand that its an American thing that guns are part of the culture and it would most likely never happen as there are millions of guns in circulation. If firearms were harder to obtain, through either stronger background checks, licencing or having a documented need for one as examples, you could lower the impact of crimes committed with firearms. Addressing only societal sources of violence doesn't take into account the damage of firearms in crime that will happen regardless.
If the gun crime is going to happen regardless, how would legislation limit anything? Criminals, or would-be criminals, will be able to get guns with or without laws against a semi-automatic weapon or high-capacity magazine. When you enact laws, only law-abiding citizens are affected. Want to require gun licenses? Most states already do. Want stricter background checks? We can discuss that, though background checks are already in place as well as mandatory waiting periods in many states.
I think the societal issue is overarching because if you take away a person's inclination toward violence, then you can hand them loaded guns all day and they won't harm someone else with them. But if some element of society has caused their brains to cross a wire and snap or have some desire to cause harm out of past rejection or whatever, then they will use that tool for harm.