Washington, D.C. is a perfect example of the ineffectiveness of gun control legislation. While citizens are prohibited from owning any sort of firearm, the city has more than once led the nation in murders, and is consistantly high in violent crime.
However, Pape's logic is irrefutable: if guns were not available, they could not be used for crime. While I still think crime would occur if people only had rocks to bash people with, it wouldn't be quite as easy as it is with a gun.
The problem obeys the law of supply and demand. Gun manufacturers mass produce small, cheap guns good for nothing more than killing another human: supply. We live in a society that is economically imbalanced, where both criminals and victims seek the most effective weapon for their defence, and in which violence has become an increasingly acceptable solution: demand. Even if gun manufacturers were to completely stop manufacturing firearms, the demand would remain (as would a significant supply). The genie cannot be put back into the bottle.
I support the right of a citizen to buy a firearm through legal means. While I feel it is unlikely, I would like to see required safety training programs for anyone who did so. I would like to see waiting periods for shotguns and rifles, rather than just for handguns.

Guthwyn