After the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, a nation long resistant to gun control seems ready to act — or at least talk about acting.

President Barack Obama has said he will make firearm legislation a "central issue" of his second term, and National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called for Congress "to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school in this nation."

But before America tackles gun control, let's tackle a few misunderstandings about how dangerous our weapons are, what they're used for and what the U.S. Constitution says about them.