The increase in guns in the United States:  1972 Handguns = 36,910,819/all guns= 122,304980; 1994 Handguns = 82,350,383/all guns = 231,243,491[Kopel, p. 260-61]; "As many new guns were sold in the two decades between 1970-90 as had been sold in the preceding six decades...." [Kopel, p. 300]
More people in the United States die from gunshot wounds in a two year period than were killed in the nine years of the Vietnam War.  The leading cause of death in American males under age 18 is from gunshot wounds.  G. DeBecker, The Gift of Fear (1997)
Weapons legally available to all law-abiding citizens over 18 years of age include 50 caliber sniper guns with armor piercing bullets which are very accurate at 2,00 yards (vs 100-150 yards for most hunters) and were used against tanks in the Iraq war.  "Deer don't wear armor.  I guess a deer could always hide behind a tank, though."  Charles Osgood.
"The bad news is "23 representatives have asked the Secretary of the Army to stop selling M1 Carbines to private citizens through the Civilian Marksmanship Program ('CMP').  These firearms are prized by collectors as a piece of American history, and can be found in their gun cabinets and safes.  They are not on the streets or often used in crimes, as anti-gunners would like you to believe.... Not all the news regarding CMP is bad however as their Board has recently approved a change to one aspect of its purchasing policy.  Previously, a qualified member of a CMP- affiliated club could only purchase one M1 Garand in his lifetime; however, the CMP Board recently decided to change to a one-per-calendar-year policy.  This is good news for serious, and even casual collectors of these pieces of American firearms history, although it has not yet been determined when this change will go into effect." NRA Grassfire Webpage 4/2/98
Ironically the NRA probably owes its existence to government subsidies and support, the irony being the fierce government-is-the-enemy rhetoric.  The government still provides free ammunition to gun clubs and free access to military shooting ranges.  Spitzer, pp. 101-2
Four weapons were involved in the Littleton shootings: a 9 millimeter large capacity magazine semiautomatic pistol  with fingerprint-resistant handle; a semiautomatic carbine; and two 12 gauge shotguns. The pistol sells for less than $200, can fire 300 rounds a minute, is a favorite of Hollywood movies, is useless for hunting, and was outlawed by the 1994 anti-crime law but grandfathered guns can still be sold to anyone over 21 without a criminal record.  The carbine can be sold to anyone over 18 without a criminal record; the shotguns can be purchased by anyone over 18 years old.
Mr. Pratt, executive director of the Gun Owners of America, and co-chair of Pat Buchanan's 1996 Presidential campaign, "believes there should be absolutely no regulations governing the sale or purchase of handguns -- no waiting period, no background checks, no trigger locks.  Automatic weapons should be as available as hunting rifles.  People should be permitted to buy them in abundance... 'We're saddened that there  were not teachers and principals who had access to a gun who might have been able to stop the mayhem....'"    NYT 4/26/99
"I don't call 911."  Mr. Pratt's baseball cap
"With the threat of nuclear war receding, pacifists are turning their attention away from disarming the American government and toward disarming the American people."  D. Kopel, p. 406
"Guns & Ammo, a magazine with a circulation of 500,000, has begun publishing tips about how to bury guns for long-term storage." Kopel, p. 187
"The truth is many more people have died in Hollywood westerns than ever died on the real frontier.   In the real Dodge City for instance, there were just five killings in 1878, the most homicidal year...." R. Shenkman, quoted in Spitzer, p. 11
"Why is a gun designed to kill an innocent animal more legitimate than a gun designed to protect an innocent human being against criminal attack?"  D. Kopel, p. 229
"It is true that an individual who misuses a semi-automatic today can shoot more people than could someone with a musket 150 years ago.... [But] medical technology has greatly outstripped firearm technology in the past two centuries.  Because gunshot wounds are much less likely to result in fatality today, a criminal firing a semi-automatic gun for a given period (such as six minutes) now would kill fewer people today than one firing a primitive gun two hundred years ago."  Kopel, p. 201 & 230.  WOW! What reasoning!

"We cannot let this tragedy lay waste to the most rare and hard won human right in history."  C. Heston on the Littleton massacre and the right to bear arms.
"Mr. Heston evidently confuses the 'sacred Second Amendment' with a Commandments that came down from a mountain top on a tablet."  Hobiedog
The Second Amendment refers to a 'well-regulated militia.'  Gun ownership by random individuals does not fall under this definition.  Indeed, there is nothing well regulated at all about gun ownership in the United States."  Alan Light, Iowa City, NYT Letters, 6/16/99
"Was the Trenchcoat Mafia of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold the well-regulated militia envisioned by the men who drafted the Second Amendment, granting citizens the right to keep and bear arms?  The NRA has it only half right, guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people."  Fr. Larry Lorenzoni, Letters, Newsweek 5/24/99
"Here is my modest proposal to end the gun debate:  Ban all firearms invented after 1776, when the Second Amendment became law.  Ban all weapons that hold more than one round or fire a shell instead of powder and a lead ball.  After all, unless framers of the Constitution could peer into the future, these are the arms they intended to bear.  Give me those old-time munitions -- they were good enough for James Madison, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin, and they're good enough for me."  David Dennison, Letters, Cols. Dispatch 5/31/99
"We have to pass on to the America in the 21st century the same Bill of Rights  that those wise, old, dead white guys that invented this country passed on to us."  C. Heston  NRA Webpage 3/6/98
"Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder.  Yet in essence, that is what you have asked our loved ones to do, through an ill-contrived and totally naive campaign against the Second Amendment."  C. Heston  NRA Webpage 3/6/98
After the Tiananmen Square massacre in June, 1989, the NRA purchased print advertisements suggesting that the core purpose of the second Amendment is resistance to tyranny.  Kopel, p. 202
"There's a freedom that overrides all the others, and that's the freedom to live."  Sen. Lautenberg, NYT 5/12/99

It now appears that the gunmen ... did all of their shooting and then committed suicide within a matter of minutes after beginning their assault at 11:25 a.m..... The gunshots inside the building for the next two hours were probably 'cover fire' to protect the police dashing into the building.... When the police reached the science classroom where Mr. Sanders lay dying the police rescued 60 students first before starting to carry the teacher out.
"Responding to criticism of the Sheriff Department's rescue efforts in the aftermath of the Littleton shootings, Sgt. Jim Parr said that  sacrificing the lives of officers would not have helped anyone.  But the public has the right to expect a police officer to risk his or her life when others are in peril.  Had the officers met this obligation, the teacher who was willing to put his life on the line for others might still be alive.  Sergeant Parr should spare us excuses like 'you just can't run blindly down a hallway, not knowing that you're running by doors that may contain a gunman.  People know cowardice when they see it."  R. Allen, NYT Letters 4/29/99

"If you can be sent to Kosovo and serve in our armed forces, we certainly think you ought to have the right to have a firearm."  J. Baker, NRA lobbyist
"This neglects to mention the fact that the armed forces screen applicants and train those they accept.  In fact, one of the Littleton shooters was rejected by the Marine Corps.  Are we to infer that Mr. Baker also believes those rejected by the military should not have firearms?  Or that those who have them should receive weapons training of the same depth that the armed forces provide?"  F. Holt NYT Letters
Mike Barletto argues that we do not have too many guns in the United States since the Swiss have more guns per capita than any country in the world yet do not experience our level of gun-related crime and school violence.  'Gee,' Mr. Barletto concludes, 'maybe it has to do with values, morals and culture, not the number of guns.  Right facts, wrong conclusion.  If we are not as civilized as the Swiss, if we are more violent by nature and nurture, isn't that all the more reason to keep guns out of our hands so that our trigger-happy impulses can't be translated into tragedy and chaos?"  J. Bernstein  NYT Letters 5/11/99
"The reason Switzerland has such a high rate of gun ownership is that instead of a standing army, Switzerland relies on a well regulated militia made up of most of the country's adult men.  As part of their service, these men keep guns at home.  The level of gun-related crime in Switzerland is low ... because the Government trains, monitors and regulates all those gun owners.  So if there's a lesson to be learned from Switzerland, it's that we need more -- not less -- Government control over gun owners."  T. Miller, NYT Letters 5/11/99
Since Switzerland doesn't have an army every male serves in their national guard, and each has a gun.  But the guns are rifles, not handguns, they are carefully locked up, and there are stringent restrictions on ammunition.
"Remembering that roughly half of all American homes already have at least one gun, there is little reason to expect any dramatic rise in successful defensive uses if the rest of the population suddenly decided to obtain guns.  One could, however, expect an appreciable rise in homicides, suicides, accidents, and injuries from guns."  Spitzer, p. 82-3.

"Our assertion is that it was negligent to sell to the civilian market a weapon of war.  The Intratec TEC-DC9 was designed essentially for close combat.  This was a gun that would not be economically viable to sell to the conventional gun market.  It simply has no use.  But there is a market for it, and Intratec knew what the market was... The market was what we call the firepower market -- consumers who are looking for firepower as the central feature of a weapon.  And that could be survivalists, paramilitary types, militia types, criminals.  And it was also Gian Luigi Ferri.  He was planning, essentially, a military assault on this law firm, where his objective was to take as many people as he could find, very quickly."  D. Henigan, Center to Prevent Handgun Violence attorney
"The industry is telling people, 'What you need to be worried about is that intruder coming through the sliding glass door.'  In other words you basically have an industry that has been advocating the purchase of this product as a way of increasing the safety of the family, when in fact the scientific evidence that is now pouring in indicates that the decision too bring a gun into the home actually increases the risk to the family."  D. Henigan