of course they should be punished by the law ( cyclist have his driver license taken away + fine and forced to redo driver school to regain his license . the same goes for the other guy .)
And sure , stuff like guns should be regulated to close loopholes , i am in favor of that .
However to me , a gun has the POTENTIAL to be used as a lethal device.
to demand a full ban on it because of that ,where should the line be drawn ?
-The motorbike i use to go to work has the potential to kill someone if misused .
-the car i drive around has the potential to kill someone if misused .
-The Steak knife /cleaver in my kitchen drawer Has the potential to kill someone if misused .
-the chainsaw i use to trim down my hedge and tree has the potential to kill someone if misused .
-the Air soft rifle i shoot with at the fair has the potential to kill/hurt someone if misused .
And if we go to the extreme :
- The Pencil lying right next to me can be potentially used as a weapon to stab into someone's eye .
through deliberate misuse or operator error all of these can be used to harm or kill someone . should they therefore also be banned ?
what makes a gun any different then all of the above ?
All of the things you mentioned in this post have purposes other than killing. Guns are for killing only. Knives, pencils, cars, chainsaws, etc all have potential to be deadly, but that's not what they're primarily used for. Guns just harm, that's all.