Was it Obama?  The Pope?  Someone (help me out here, anyone)...said that we shouldn't let the perfect become the enemy of the good.  Just because we can never completely eliminate the last trace of violence from life doesn't mean we shouldn't reduce risk, eliminate avoidable deaths, do research to understand the problem better, and improve what we have control over.  That all-or-nothing thinking is a cognitive distortion particularly entrenched in the gun culture.  I think the subtext of believing that levels of violence will never change is the statement "I will never change...because I am afraid."  The gun culture is a culture of fear.  If you ever watch those stump speeches of Wayne LaPierre, he plays people's fears like a violin: "Bad guys are everywhere...coming to get you!"  Jesus told us not to be afraid of those who can kill the body but of that which can damage the soul.  Our culture teaches us to be afraid of everything and everyone.  Do we see that damaging our souls?