RE: Reality Check: Trump Did Not Make It Easier for Severely Mentally Ill People To Buy Guns
I agree with most of what you said, but I still think societal issues are separate from gun control. There will always be criminals but giving them easy access to firearms only makes the crimes they commit easier to commit and amplifies any damage they can do.
Now I personally am for an all out ban on firearms, but I understand that its an American thing that guns are part of the culture and it would most likely never happen as there are millions of guns in circulation. If firearms were harder to obtain, through either stronger background checks, licencing or having a documented need for one as examples, you could lower the impact of crimes committed with firearms. Addressing only societal sources of violence doesn't take into account the damage of firearms in crime that will happen regardless.
If the gun crime is going to happen regardless, how would legislation limit anything? Criminals, or would-be criminals, will be able to get guns with or without laws against a semi-automatic weapon or high-capacity magazine. When you enact laws, only law-abiding citizens are affected. Want to require gun licenses? Most states already do. Want stricter background checks? We can discuss that, though background checks are already in place as well as mandatory waiting periods in many states.
I think the societal issue is overarching because if you take away a person's inclination toward violence, then you can hand them loaded guns all day and they won't harm someone else with them. But if some element of society has caused their brains to cross a wire and snap or have some desire to cause harm out of past rejection or whatever, then they will use that tool for harm.