in the united states, you get the choice between a conservative party (the democrats) and a nihilist party (the republicans). the republicans are, of course, the historical american liberal party - not the democrats. but, in some kind of bizarre ode to nietszche, american liberalism collapsed into depravity in the middle part of the last century, leaving americans with this mirage that the democrats are some kind of liberal party, which has no basis in reality, not in the past and not today. so, when the democrats push what it is actually a right-wing approach to gun control, americans have nothing to contrast it with besides the pro-nra nihilism of the republican party, which of course grew out of the constitutional right to bear arms - a very liberal idea.
in canada, we're supposed to have a broader spectrum. liberals have historically supported things like gun registries (which was the original response to the montreal massacre), while pushing back against strict gun control - which is, by definition, illiberal. and, we're supposed to have a party on the left that argues for things like social policies and poverty reduction - that understands the need to get to root causes. that's all in flux, right now.
so, let's recall.
1) leftists seek to get at the root causes of crime. and, because most leftists are social liberals, they also reject authoritarian social policies. so, being a leftist means that you want to address gun violence by funding social programs, and fighting to eradicate poverty and social exclusion. the desired end point is a society where nobody wants a gun, anyways. that's the left. that's where i am. and, if you want people to voluntarily give their guns away because they just don't want them any more, that's where you are, too.
2) liberals uphold the capitalist status quo, but seek the establishment of regulatory bodies to curb what they consider to be destructive behaviour. so, they believe in the stock market - they just want to police it. and, they believe in corporate governance - they just want to regulate it. likewise, liberals support gun ownership, but want to pass what they see as reasonable restrictions to curb destructive behaviour. this is where the liberal party used to sit. so, if you find yourself in favour of gun rights, but want regulations around it, you're a liberal.
3) conservatives believe in law and order through the establishment of authoritarian laws, and the enforcement of hierarchical systems of control - and not just via law enforcement, but via religion and the media and etc. they want a system that operates from the top down. they believe in deterrence, in punishment, in retribution - in harsh justice. generally, they believe in god, and that the government acts on the command of god. a real conservative would argue that only the police should have guns, because that is their correct place in the hierarchy - everything in it's right place. regular people should only be given guns when they are conscripted for war time. so, a conservative would argue for very strict gun control, because it believes in a strictly ordered system. and, if that is what you want, you are a conservative.
4) then, there are the nihilists and relativists that just don't give a fuck. everything has a price. can i make money from guns? then i support guns! but, can i make more from gun control? then i support gun control. whatever. the modern republican party has darker undertones to it, but they ultimately have no actual political position on guns besides that which is most profitable to them. somebody like donald trump has no real position on this topic, other than the one that is most profitable in the short term.
i know that americans want to see this in black and white, and that's a problem. we've historically been better than that. and, we should be focusing more on getting americans to see the wider picture, not collapsing into their broken binary.
if we end up with the same choice between conservatism and nihilism/relativism, we will be on the path to becoming them - a tragedy we must avoid.