Regarding Darryl McGarry's Dec. 14 letter, "Less paranoia about government": The author undercuts his arguments for banning guns with his belief that "criminals bearing firearms do not care about the law." Exactly! So why would they care about gun-control laws? Gun control is most effective at disarming law-abiding citizens, not criminals.
McGarry says gun crime declined in Australia following gun control. Overall U.S. crime also declined in the same period without banning guns. Simply put, police and courts got better at putting criminals in jail and keeping them there.
Japanese culture is responsible for Japan's rare street crime, not gun control. Canada, Switzerland and Israel have a lot of gun owners, and their crime rates are fairly low. Most of America's gun crime can be traced to drug-dealing gangs and declining cultural values.