Yes, it is hard. Some depressed teen bullied in school is most likely not going to be able to pay off some black market contact to get their hands on an automatic.

They don't have to be afraid of the laws, just obstructed by them.

We can't know if any specific instances were averted, but since plenty of people have been busted for possessing or buying/selling illegal firearms, there's certainly the probability that some of these could have gone to people with the intent to use them.

Sorry, no.

Chicago was the guy with a knife. Not sure where the gun was pulled on him.

Wait... were automatic weapons not illegal before then?  Because you know... they're illegal in the USA.

Outisde which... I think you pretty much greatly understimate the power of the black market and how ungodly easy it is to get ahold of something.

All you need to know is one drug dealer and he can get you pretty much anything... and if your in highschool it's plenty easy to find a drug dealer.

They're not illegal, just highly regulated (namely needing to buy a very expensive ATF tax stamp, which allows them to keep tabs on all legal owners and dis-incentivize their purchase in the first place)

Well not really.  I mean the only assault rifles you are alowed to own are ones made before 1986.  I'd consider that as illegal with some just being grandfathered in because they're already private property and generally it's been ruled when you outlaw something you have to grandfather exempt older property.   Hence why things like pawn stores don't need a liscense to sell any gun before 1932 or cars before a certain date can get certificates to be exempt from clean air laws.

lol Chiraq. funny name.

And yehh, something is probably wrong there. Need for an investigation there

It's not all that bad. I'm not dead or shot at yet, and no one else that I know has either. It depends on where you live though, like every other place in the entire world. 

OT: When I went to Chicago nothing seemed strange or violent. (I was there for a week, so not a very long time, but still.) It could possibly be because I stayed in Burr Ridge (the ritzy part) or that we didn't really go off track from the usual tourist area, but I don't see how it can be bad if you make a concious effort not to go into "those" areas.

They probably spend in the wrong areas so can't be very effective. I'm sure corruption plays it's part. Also, i wonder how accurately Watch dogs will portray the crime problems, that game is set in Chicago.

Also my problem with the 2nd amendment is that the US constitution was written at a time when guns fired one bullet only and then took a minute to reload. People could get very easily if the shooters missed. Guns now can hold potentially 100's of bullets and many are automatic. They are also far more deadly now and if you miss one bullet, another will very quickly. Guns are also far more common now than back in the 18th century. The 2nd amendment couldn't consider any of this because the founding fathers obviously couldn't tell that technology would advance so much. Unfortunately now it is a problem but because of how the US constitution works, there is no easy fix like there was in the UK or Australia. 

Well generally there are no fixes for things that have no problems.

Not sure, but semi-autos are illegal now and weren't before 1996.

Also, it's not like the US where  guns are abundant; there are far less of them, so access is harder. There's not a smuggler on every street corner.

Drugs are much, much easier to get hold of than guns here.