Has anybody ever thought of ways of dealing with this besides banning guns?
In my opinion Simon is on the right track, if we follow that train of thought to its conclusion. Requiring insurance is not a burden. I've got a one million dollar umbrella policy that (bundled with my home and auto insurance) costs $12 a month. We already license gun owners who hunt and carry concealed weapons. Why not license them all?
How about universal safety training? We teach junior high school kids to put condoms on bananas so nobody gets hurt if a loaded penis goes off, why not teach them how to handle a gun? I've been around guns my entire life. I know how to check the safety and determine if a gun is loaded. I also know not to point it at anything I don't plan on shooting. These points got beat into my head so long ago and so emphatically they are now automatic. That kind of training might have prevented this tragedy.
There is a problem with gun culture in this country. That culture is located in our cities, twelve of which are responsible for one quarter of all gun deaths. But we don't talk about that, I guess because its politically incorrect.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/america-doesnt-have-a-gun-problem-it-has-a-gang-problem/
Simon, you're point about Canada having lots of guns and far fewer deaths actually proves the point a lot of us are trying to make. Its not the guns, its the people.