In general, people assume they won't get caught. This means there is in most cases no deterring effect from any punishment. The human mind simply does not wor

In general, people assume they won't get caught. This means there is in most cases no deterring effect from any punishment. The human mind simply does not work that way. There is however an effect from people being basically lazy and doing things that make sense only in the spur of the moment, without thinking things through. If getting a gun meant a headache inducing amount of work and waiting time, only people who really want a gun would have one. This is basically the situation in the rest of the world. There are guns, and criminals that want one have no problem getting one on the black market. But even so, most criminals don't get a gun, because the day to day situation simply doesn't give you exposure to them.