Against law-abiding citizens, yes.

I can go to one of those countries with strong gun control right now and turn a formidable firearm if you like - do they need better mill control?

Do you lock the doors of your house when you leave? Those locks are useless to a thief with a crowbar.

So if you do lock your house doors when you go out, you're implicitly agreeing that you do this to make it more difficult for someone to get inside your house, reducing the likelihood of theft.

Same thing with guns.

> Same thing with guns.

So America has zero house burglary?

??? Seems you missed my point entirely.

Parent claims guns shouldn't be restricted since someone can make one on a lathe if they cannot buy one at a store.

Meanwhile parent almost certainly locks their house doors despite a thief with crowbar being able to bypass their lock.

Therefore, the parent's reasoning that gun control won't work because a criminal can mill their own gun is not logically sound.

You reduce opportunity which gets rid of opportunistic criminals. Ones who might rob your house because it is unlocked and they are less likely to get caught (compared to the shattering of glass or breaking down a door).

I'm going to go out on a limb and claim murders are not an opportunistic crime. People are not killing because they can and can get away with it. The comparison you are trying to make dies there because the type of crime is not comparable.

It's the acquisition of the gun that's comparable, not the crime committed with it.

Since someone can physically go and mill a gun, should that be the reason not to enact gun control? Seems like a ridiculous reason to me, but apparently is a core bit of logic for the gun crowd.

The enforcement in other western countries is limited to not selling them as easily, tons of people still have unregistered guns and illegally importing them isn't difficult.

This makes no sense. I've lived in the UK my whole life, and when growing up spent some time around pretty unsavoury people. I've once seen a firearm, and that was at a clay pigeon range.

I don't dispute that some people may own illegal firearms, but its by no means an endemic problem. Somebody getting shot in the UK is guaranteed to make the news. Just the presence of a criminal with a gun will interrupt live news channels, that's how rare it is.

Exactly. In the UK, 99% of the population wouldn't even know how to begin getting hold of a handgun. If they started making serious enquiries, chances are they'd run into an undercover cop before they found someone able to supply them something illegal.

While I don't doubt that the knowledge of who to talk to and where to go to get a gun is present in certain UK communities, the basic fact that everybody involved in procuring, handling and importing guns is committing a criminal act certainly acts as a pretty solid prevention mechanism to stop, say, an angry 20-something man from acquiring sufficient guns and ammo to go on a shooting rampage at a college.

Breivik tried to buy illegal weapons. He was unable to do so. He ended up buying weapons legally.