If firearm ownership translated into a safer society, we'd have the safest society on the planet. Yet while the US might not be Syria or even parts of Mexico, our crime rates and especially our gun crime rates are much higher than places like Canada, Europe, and Japan, where firearm ownership is extremely limited.
Beyond that, there are also certain practical considerations. There are too many people with no interest in arming themselves to ever fulfill that fantasy of armed criminals getting shot on sight. Even many people who have carry permits and who carry on a regular basis are less interested in being the good guy with a gun and more in defending themselves if they're confronted directly. What if they hear shooting around the corner? They won't confront the shooter, they'll head the other way.
..which might not be a bad thing, because imagine a dozen good guys with guns trying to respond to a shooting. How do they know who is the bad guy and who are the good guys? How can law enforcement make that distinction?
Paris and Oslo (Anders Breivik) are a good example of how even tough gun laws do not keep everyone perfectly safe from crime, but nevertheless, in general you are much less likely to get shot and killed in France or Norway than in the US. Despite our much higher rate of firearm ownership. Or perhaps exactly because our much higher rate of gun ownership.
Having said all that, even if private firearm ownership were outlawed completely tomorrow, I know there's no practical way of collecting all those guns. Kicking down doors and searching houses from top to bottom is not something I'd ever want to see here, no matter how much I think banning guns is the best way; furthermore, even if law enforcement were to go that far, the people most interested in using their guns for mischief would be the ones trying the hardest to hide their guns and keep them.
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