The US is not the only country with a high rate of gun ownership, but nowhere in the world does gun ownership intersect with random violence so often as in the US.
The 1% are to blame. As they hog more and more of the nation's resources and wealth, those young men who are at the age when they are trying to establish themselves in life find they are marginalized in a society that offers too many of them only meaningless minimum-wage work and a dismal future.
I know that many here at DK will favor draconian gun control laws. The problem is that the US has almost as many guns as people, many of them "off the books" through being passed down intergenerationally, or acquired before local registration went into effect.
Americans love their guns and a ban or even new restrictions may be politically impossible. Gun control is historically a vote loser for Democrats.
But here is a solution that might work: enlist the NRA. We know they are in it for the money, and have over the last generation or so morphed from being an advocate for hunting, gun safety, and civilian marksmanship into a shill for the firearms industry.
I would require, via federal legislation, that the NRA maintain records of all firearms. Every gun owner would be required to be a member, and prove that they have taken safety training appropriate to the type of guns they own. Federal law would govern the possession, storage, and transfer of weapons, with no additional state or local restrictions allowed.
This new federal firearms legislation would preempt all state and local gun laws. This neuters the NRA's fear campaigns, which they use to enroll new members.
Handguns would be restricted to automatic pistols and revolvers with a maximum capacity of 6 rounds. Handguns could not be painted black or any dark color. Rifles would have to be civilian hunting guns with traditional wooden stocks with no more than a five round capacity. Shotguns would also be restricted to traditional civilian hunting guns, with a three shot limit if they were automatic or pump guns. Gun owners would be required to store weapons safely. All military style guns would be banned for civilian and police use. Military weaponry would be reserved for the armed forces, FBI, and the Secret Service. Nobody else needs them.