The problem with gun control advocates is that they tend to be the same people who want to take it easy on criminals. Not long ago the average length of a sentence served for murder was around seven years, and in a lot of the nation's prisons those seven years are served in a place with television, recreation facilities, workout rooms, holiday feasts, etc. There's a wide and complete philosophical divide at work here.
When someone commits a violent crime the other side, believing in the essential goodness of all, looks for some outside motivation for which we are all commonly responsible. My side sees a choice made by an individual, who should now pay for it. I don't believe there is any outside influence that justifies using armed force for taking what you want from someone else. No economic condition, no history of oppression, no cultural bias against your hair color, whatever. Once you make that decision you are liable for the consequences, because that's what it means to have laws.
It's similar with the death penalty debate. I've often said to friends who are against it, "I'll give you the death penalty if we can replace it with hard time breaking rocks." Nobody has agreed to the exchange, because of course that's cruel too.
It is, imho, the result of an entire generation of people who are not comfortable with any moral judgement or standard, even when it is necessary for the protection of their own lives.