The NRA's Wayne LaPierre correctly noted the inconsistency between armed guards in office buildings and "unprotected" schools. Implicit in this statement is an acknowledgement of gun proliferation in the US, which per capita exceeds all other nations with professional armies.
Why does our country suffer disproportionately from gun deaths--do we have a greater incidence of mental illness or a more twisted culture of violence? Or are our laws simply incompatible with the type of firearms currently on the market?
Recent US Supreme Court rulings on the 2nd Amendment (see District of Columbia v. Heller) render specific gun prohibitions constitutionally impossible.
Let's start with a clean slate and define the types of guns that we want in our society.