Before jumping on me, please try to argue with my ideas, and not with me personally. I do not own a gun, I am not even american, but I have visited the US a few times, and I work with americans on a daily basis.
One thing I know, back from when I was a child, was that guns are sort of like nuclear weapons. If you know somebody had a gun, or that there even was the slightest possibility that they had one, criminals would normally avoid them. Usually it was foreign businessmen, or off-duty law enforcement, but by default, the mentality I saw in every stupid ass punk that would try to make a living by stealing.
I don't think the average pro gun confiscation american realizes that even though criminality seems high now, how high it will be if everybody was sure nobody had guns. They keep bringing the Europe argument, but in most large cities in Europe, people don't go out after a certain hour, and it's something relatively normal. Yes, the suburbs are safer, but only because usually they have a dedicated police patrol around the clock (perks of living in rich neighborhoods).
But still, you will never hear on the news about the fact that there were let's say 10 houses broken into this week. It's just not news, and people get the (mistaken) idea that wow how safe it must be there, compared to us where some guy broke into 1 house in a month and got shot.
Think about all the mixed religions, languages, and people who are in the US from all over the world. The average criminal would never risk getting shot for a mere wallet let's say. Of course not, he's not stupid. But where there are no guns, even $50 is well worth the trouble.
Normally what I noticed in that in the US crimes involving guns are incredibly broadcasted on the news for some reason, and I don't mean mass-shootings, I mean some robbery gone wrong, some idiots starting a fight and devolving to guns, and so on. That kinda drives the average person to believe there is a gun problem.
Just my 2 cents, as a non american, I think banning guns would skyrocket petty crimes. I know they exist even now, but still, probably not even close.
I just read today, on the UK motorway, lorry trucks are being robbed and destroyed using knives and rocks, and if you call the police, they won't even show up because it's not a violent crime, it's just stealing, and they will come when they have time to certify the damage and give you a paper you can take to the insurance and that's it.