My current positions is that guns are no big deal out in the country, where it is sparsely populated and perhaps you find a legitimate use for one (i.e., putting a horse with a broken leg out of its misery or something, or perhaps hunting on your time off) every so often. You can even blow off steam harmlessly by firing one off at the nearest mountain.
But in urban and suburban settings things are much different. People are more tightly packed and come in contact with each other constantly. There are plenty of frustrations to deal with on a daily basis (traffic jams, lines at the supermarket, job related stuff, whatever). Plus any crazies can kill that many more people if they snap. It seems like the wrong setting for a gun. The odds of tragedy go way up in this environment, in my judgement. And this seems to be what the evidence shows as well (although I admit I don't have a good command of the facts on this issue - this is merely an impression from anecdotal evidence).
Brett