This is a very polarized issue which comes down to how you look at the issue: A personal problem or a societal one. In America we have a problem with guns. The issue is a societal one in that we do not teach any form of firearm safety in public schools (at least, none that I know of). The gun control lobby takes the same stance on educating kids on the dangers of guns as the GOP does on sex ed: that if they talk about responsiblity they are condoning the use of guns. The fact that the US has more people killed by firearms is simply because we have more guns. What is interesting is that we have more people killed than other civilized countries. I won't get into that debate here (although, IMO, it is the more pressing question). I will echo the fact which I think is overlooked (or at least discounted) but the abolistionists and that is that the Second Amendment is a protective Amendment (as are the first ten Amendments). One thing many Americans have forgotten about, especially in post-9/11 America, is that the Framers were very cautious about the Government becoming too powerful. The Second Amendment was designed to ensure that should the Government of the United States become tyrannical, the citizenry would have the necessary means with which to overcome that tyranny. This "equalizing power" as many put it, is the reason why so many gun owners are resistant to gun registration and so-called "smart gun" technologies.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment02/