That may be the case, but your parents and grandparents were regularly shown graphic government film of how Uncle Sam once put his enemies to death. In California, if you're 14 years or older and use a gun in conjunction with a crime, you'll get 10 to life. Life if you shoot someone with it. 20 years if you fire and miss. And 10 years just for using it without firing it.
Murder is just one of the crimes.
Some of the others are done everyday. Here are some examples. You alone or with a friend want someone's baseball cap. You either pretend to have a weapon or threaten to beat the owner up. Your friend pokes the other person in the eye with the handle of a hairbrush, a stick, etc.