Belgian gun owner here, so let me give you my take on this.

> It will not stop people like the one at 4th july, nor those school shootings.

Proper gun laws could definitely prevented the 4th of july shooting. Have you seen the guy's picture and background? No way in hell that he would have gotten a legal gun in Belgium. Same for most school shootings.

The solution is very simple: don't let aggressive and crazy people buy guns.

> Solve those societal issues

Or you need to accept that your society will have aggressive and crazy people, and make laws accordingly.

US always thinks black and white. Either everyone can buy a gun, or nobody can buy a gun. There seems to be no grey zone in between? Same for mass shootings, either you have them or you have 0, also no grey zone. Maybe you could try to prevent most of them? Like most sane countries?

You need a driver license to drive a car, seems logical. But in US, anyone can walk into a store and buy a gun with bullets. Absolutely bonkers in these times.

Like I said, I'm a gun owner. So let me tell you what I have to do to get a gun, to give you an idea how other countries work.

First of all I need a reason to own a gun, and "defend my home" is not a valid one. "I shoot for sports" is a valid one. In that sense, we don't have an NRA organisation, we have a Sport Shooting Organisation, which actually wants to have proper legislation with restrictive licenses.

So first I need to subscribe myself into a shooting range. I can't have any convictions, my doctor needs to approve I can handle guns. The shooting range itself also judges if they want a person like me in their club (=is this person going to be handling guns safely?). I can tell you there are no members in my club who have tattoos in their face.

For 3 months I can only shoot air guns. After 3 months, I can apply for a firearm. Again, no convictions, doctor needs to approve, all adult people in my house need to approve. Then you need to pass a theoretical and practical exam. Theoretical also includes gun laws, where to store guns, how to transport them, etc. After that is done, you can send the documents to the government, they have to approve it. After they say yes, they send your dossier to the local police, and a cop will come by to check where and how you store your guns (stored away from kids, bullets separate, not easily accessible, ...). After that person approves, it goes back to the government and you get your license. If any of the people in those steps says "no", you don't get your firearm. This application takes months.

Then, once you have your firearm, every year you need to prove you at least went 12 times to the shooting range, and have a clear criminal record. Every 5 years your doctor needs to approve. When you want to buy another firearm, do the whole thing again. Also, cops can come by any time and check where your guns are stored.

Do I like to do all of this every year? No. Do I prefer that over my neighbour owning a gun and no clue how to safely use it? Yes. Do I prefer that over any crazy idiot going to the shop and buy a firearm and bullets? Hell YES!!!!

What is the result? Compare the gun violence results of Belgium with any US state the size of Belgium.