Does regulating handguns but not shot guns make sense?

Answer 1

Most of the firearms regulations on the books are pointless. The vast majority of violent crimes are committed by criminals who are repeat offenders and have no problem disobeying laws; hence, they are repeat offenders. Breaking one more law to obtain a gun is not something they loose sleep over. The people who obey gun regulations are the law-abiding people that you typically don't have to worry about. A knife can take a life in a second, but most people don't worry about their neighbors having a drawerfull of them in their kitchens.

According to the Department of Justice there has been only one homicide committed in the US using a legally licensed, privately-owned machine gun in the last 25 years. One. And that one was commited by a cop who killed one of his informants. Yet there are people in a major panic over how "dangerous" it is to let responsble law-abiding people own them. Huh? Phobias should not form the basis for legislation.