And I wasn't even sure how to respond:
 
Michael,
You may remember me from a few years back when we shared dinner together in Atlanta Ga during Dragon Con. I really enjoyed our meeting and learned that I should NEVER accept a table next to the waitstaff station. No matter the case, this year I was in the hospital hoping to die, and your book "Rogue" gave me what little hope I have. I was well prepared to end my life, but your character not ending his because he felt responsibility to his daughter gave me pause. I will live a few more years because you created a character who would not abandon his child. I thank you for the lesson.
Very respectfully,
 
[redacted]

I'm seeing this myth more and more--that fewer people own guns, and just own more of them, yadda yadda.

A) 

Even if true, so what?

I bet .05% of individuals own 90% of the newspapers. What does that have to do with the First Amendment?

2: I'm well-placed to debunk this.  If millions of people were getting rid of their guns, then one of two things would happen.  

2a} your local police station would have people lined up to turn in guns for destruction. Call them and ask. They're going to laugh at you.

2b] your local gun store would have people lined up to sell their guns, the market value would plummet, and I'd be buying used guns for twenty bucks a pop.  I only wish that were the case.

c; If this were a thing, it would mean fewer gun owners, so why the urgent panic to pass more laws?  The "problem" would be correcting itself, just as smoking is a dying habit.

IV: In other words, it's morally corrupt, intellectually dishonest bullshit from left wing cowards with small penises. As usual.

Taken from various sources and lists, including Wikipedia. Archiving for reference as a secondary source.

February 14, 2010 - Richmond, California - Three hooded men walk into Gethsemane Church of God in Christ and opened fire and then fled the scene, as the singing of the choir was replaced by frightened screams. The two victims, a 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, were hospitalized.--shooters were hooded, unknown race. Town is mixed demographically, unknown victims.

March 8, 2009 - Maryville, Illinois - Suspect Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, of Troy, walks into the First Baptist Church, and shoots pastor Fred Winters dead, point blank. Several church members are injured by a knife in the struggle to capture after the attack, The suspect also had stabbed himself, but survived, when his gun jams.--white attacker, probable white victims, per names and local demographics

July 27, 2008 - Knoxville, Tennessee - A gunman opens fire in a church during a youth performance, killing two people and injuring seven.--Jim D. Adkisson.  White shooter, white victims.

Dec. 9, 2007 - Colorado - Three people are killed and five wounded in two shooting rampages, one at a missionary school in suburban Denver and one at a church in Colorado Springs. The gunman in the second incident is killed by a guard.--probable white gunman and victim, per names

May 20, 2007 - Moscow, Idaho - A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer.--white shooter, white victims

Aug. 12, 2007 - Neosho, Missouri - First Congregational Church - 3 killed - Eiken Elam Saimon shot and killed the pastor and two deacons and wounded five others.--Micronesian shooter, probably white victims

May 21, 2006 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana - The Ministry of Jesus Christ Church - 4 killed - The four at the church who were shot were members of Erica Bell's family; she was abducted and murdered elsewhere; Bell's mother, church pastor Claudia Brown, was seriously wounded - Anthony Bell, 25, was the shooter.--black shooter, black victims

Feb. 26, 2006 - Detroit, Michigan - Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church - 2 killed + shooter - Kevin L. Collins, who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend, later killed himself.--black shooter, black victims

April 9, 2005 - College Park, Georgia - A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church, where he had once worked as a security guard.--given the demographics of the area, probably a black shooter and black victims

March 12, 2005 - Brookfield, Wisconsin - Living Church of God - 7 killed + shooter - Terry Ratzmann opened fire on the congregation, killing seven and wounding four before taking his own life.--white shooter and victims

July 30, 2005 - College Park, Georgia - World Changers Church International - shooter killed - Air Force Staff Sgt. John Givens was shot five times by a police officer after charging the officer, following violent behavior.--from article, attacker probably black

 Second more recent shooting at same church--black shooter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v8Y_pY4sIE

Dec. 17, 2004, Garden Grove, Calif.: A veteran musician at the Crystal Cathedral shoots himself to death after a nine -hour standoff.--suicide

Oct. 5, 2003 - Atlanta, Georgia - Turner Monumental AME Church - 2 killed + shooter - Shelia Wilson walked into the church while preparations are being made for service and shot the pastor, her mother and then herself.-black on black violence, domestic incident

June 10, 2002 - Conception, Missouri - Benedictine monastery - 2 killed + shooter - Lloyd Robert Jeffress shot four monks in the monastery killing two and wounding two, before killing himself.

March 12, 2002 - Lynbrook, New York - Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church - 2 killed - Peter Troy, a former mental patient, opens fire during Mass, killing the priest and a parishioner. He later receives a life sentence.--unknown, names and location suggest white

May 18, 2001 - Hopkinsville, Kentucky - Greater Oak Missionary Baptist Church - 2 killed - Frederick Radford stood up in the middle of a revival service and began shooting at his estranged wife, Nicole Radford,  killing her and a woman trying to help her.--black on black domestic incident.


Sept. 15, 1999 - Fort Worth, Texas - Wedgewood Baptist Church - 7 killed + shooter - Larry Gene Ashbrook shot dead seven people and injured a further seven at a concert by Christian rock group Forty Days in Fort Worth, Texas before killing himself.--victims appear to be mostly white

April 15, 1999 - Salt Lake City, Utah - LDS Church Family History Library - 2 killed + shooter - Sergei Babarin, 70, with a history of mental illness, entered the library, killed two people and wounded four others before he was gunned down by police.--victims white

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/18/from-bombings-to-fires-to-shootings-partial-list-attacks-on-black-churches-in/ — June 1996: Then-President Bill Clinton appoints a task force to investigate a spate of church fires, particularly at black churches in the rural South. Of 670 incidents that were investigated nationwide by October 1998, 225 involved black churches.

Looks like blacks kill a lot more black worshippers than whites. black shooters. And whites tend to target other whites. THAT is your pattern.  You can dislike facts, but you can't ignore them.  But doesn't it make sense that they're usually pissed off at someone in their own community?

As to burnings, it will take more time than available to ID the perps in those cases, but the sheer number suggests a small group dedicated to the task, and even then, black churches are only slightly over-represented on a demographic basis.

Does not include the more recent SC church shooting that was definitely racial in nature, with a white shooter and black victims.

Once again, we have a high profile shooting, and once again, the hysteria is out in force.

Let's start with some facts:  If you don't shoot, or have only occasionally shot on a range, then your opinion on how useful an armed respondent would be is garbage.  If you don't drive a car, you aren't qualified to tell professional drivers what they should have done in an accident.

Seriously, shut up, you're an idiot.

Second, everything is a cost-benefit and risk analysis.  Would a defensive shooter have made a difference? We can never know. We can know that it has helped before.

Here are some ways it can help:

The defensive shooter engages the hostile. The hostile must choose to ignore, take cover, or return fire.

If he chooses to ignore it, he remains a target and the odds of him being shot increase, and if he is shot, the engagement ends, and no further lives are lost. If this happens before he quits or runs out of ammo, it is a NET POSITIVE for the group.

If he takes cover, he is not shooting for a few moments, and in that few moments, more people can escape or formulate an attack. (Barstools can be as deadly as bullets, when thrown or swung.)  NET POSITIVE.

If he returns fire, anyone not in the cone near the defensive shooter is not being shot at. This is a NET POSITIVE for all those people, and a slight negative for those in the defender's immediate position.

It is possible the defender will hit a bystander in the process.  However, as he is deliberately choosing a single hostile target, the odds still improve for the remainder, and if the hostile is hit, the engagement stops. This is probably still a net positive.

The defender may be hit. Negative for him, but he accepted that risk. And in those few seconds, the fact is that more victims can escape or respond. This is still a NET POSITIVE for the GROUP.

Yes, the defender may decide his best course of action is to flee. If so...there is no negative nor positive for the group. They remain as they were.

But, this assumes an engagement takes place. Knowing certain areas contain a lot of defensive shooters, attackers tend to avoid them. NET POSITIVE for the group.

The only way to imagine a major negative is to assume that everyone carrying a gun for defense is some psychotic nutjob just waiting to break and spray bullets. There are zero studies or statistics to support this allegation.

This belief comes about from several issues. First, hoplophobia--a fear of weapons.  

Occasionally, it comes from projection. A person with poor impulse control assumes everyone else likewise is prone to outbursts, and of course, if they have a gun, they might act out with it, even though that occurence is demonstrably very rare. The overwhelming majority public and/or mass shootings are premeditated. They even frequently project their small penises into the argument. (Yes, that was deliberate contempt and turnabout on my part.)

Most commonly, it comes from fear and helplessness.  The promoter of these memes knows that in such an event, they'd be helpless, crying, and nothing but a victim waiting to be slaughtered.  More terrifying than that is the notion that NOT EVERYONE IS.  Some people might actually be able to control such a situation.  This means those people are more competent than the poster. It's a frightening notion that random death can visit us, but more offensive and jealous-making is the idea that it isn't just random, that some can change the odds in their favor and not be victims.

The sheep mentality, particularly among "liberals," is that everyone must be equal--equally poor, equally ignorant, equally helpless.

The only thing more outrageous than a killer is inequality, wherein better people (sometimes) survive. The most important thing to these people is to convince the competent that they're really not, or at least convince themselves of that, even if it takes trite, ignorant meme wars and blocking those who'd inform them otherwise.

They don't want education, they cherish their ignorance and fear. 

And they're what's wrong with humanity.

While some say we should pity them, I hold that their deliberate, cherished ignorance and cowardice makes them unsalvageable.

Simply remind them that they're worthless cowards, and be the best prepapred person you can be.  It may not matter, but it will not hurt.

BTW, if every building has fire extinguishers, why do we still have fires?