...and yet the USA has a rate of gun deaths which dwarfs comparable countries like Australia where there is strict gun control and every second idiot doesn't think he has a right to be Dirty Harry.

For something that supposed to save "thousands and thousands" of lives - these things end up killing an awful lot of Americans.

Perhaps you could give us details of these "thousands upon thousands of documented cases of hand guns being used to save lives" - or did you just make that up?