Well k-mart then. W/e. My point being, they are sold in various department stores and as easily accessible as any other item you would buy. Lot of criminals out there just do crime because it's fun to them, and they'll use whatever tools are easily accessible to them. Others, may go to extreme lengths and will find a gun anyway. Guns illegal vs legal is a whole other debate, but point being the fact that they're so easy to access in the states makes them more easily accessible to criminals as well. Lot of criminals are stupid and would not even know where to find a gun illegally. What are you more scared of as a night shift worker, a guy with a knife or a gun? I would prefer having the guy with a knife after me, it would give me a chance to fight back, or at least run away.
I don't know of any department stores that sell handguns or AK-47s. You have to a sporting goods store, and even then some of those (like Dick's) don't sell handguns or AK-47s.
And no, they are not "as easily accessible as any other items you can buy". A gun buyer has to go through a background check (and possibly more depending on the state he lives in) before he is able to buy a gun from a store. Here is a list of some criteria that they search for:
* A person who has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year or any state offense classified by the state as a misdemeanor and is punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than two years.
* Persons who are fugitives of justicefor example, the subject of an active felony or misdemeanor warrant.
* An unlawful user and/or an addict of any controlled substance; for example, a person convicted for the use or possession of a controlled substance within the past year; or a person with multiple arrests for the use or possession of a controlled substance within the past five years with the most recent arrest occurring within the past year; or a person found through a drug test to use a controlled substance unlawfully, provided the test was administered within the past year.
* A person adjudicated mental defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution or incompetent to handle own affairs, including dispositions to criminal charges of found not guilty by reason of insanity or found incompetent to stand trial.
* A person who, being an alien, is illegally or unlawfully in the United States.
* A person who, being an alien except as provided in subsection (y) (2), has been admitted to the United States under a non-immigrant visa.
* A person dishonorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces.
* A person who has renounced his/her United States citizenship.
* The subject of a protective order issued after a hearing in which the respondent had notice that restrains them from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of such partner. This does not include ex parte orders.
* A person convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime which includes the use or attempted use of physical force or threatened use of a deadly weapon and the defendant was the spouse, former spouse, parent, guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited in the past with the victim as a spouse, parent, guardian or similar situation to a spouse, parent or guardian of the victim.
* A person who is under indictment or information for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.
I also believe that they look for people who have been committed for mental conditions as well, but not 100% sure on that.
Seriously, stfu if you have no idea what you are talking about.