My opinion on this matter is now a thoroughly confused one. My first reaction was like many, I wanted "assault" rifles out of this country and stricter controls for all guns...then I tried to buy a pistol. Living in california, I knew we had more controls, but I did not understand just how bad it was already here.
I wanted a target pistol, something very accurate and easy to shoot for recreation. I learned that the majority of these pistols are banned due to larger than 10 round clips. Furthermore, any new models of handguns are also banned in an arbitrary way, regardless of magazine capacity or other features, because they have not been "approved" and added to a list of approved hand guns. They are deemed "unsafe" until money is paid to the state and the gun is tested and added. This is a back door approach to banning/limiting hand guns and hand gun choices in california.
My rights were suddenly under threat and my opinion changed. I felt I was being treated unfairly. I got to watch people on gunbroker.com from other states bid on their favorite handguns while I had to sit by and watch the pistol I wanted be purchased by someone else. If this is not an infringement on the 2nd amandment then I don't know what is.
I then became fearful (yes, fearful) that the American public would no longer possess deterence capabilities from corruption in government if our weapons of choice for self defense were taken away. They are not going after target/hunting rifles, they are going after the class of weapon (really the only weapon available to us) that is ideally suited for self defense against anything more than a single burglar.
So then I read some statistics, and I became even more worried. Long guns of any type are so rarely used in crimes that it became as clear as day to me that this was not about, and could not be about trying to protect americans. I strongly feel that it is about disarming the public from effective weapons, period.
That said, I have confused emotions about wanting to protect people from slaughter, but I am no longer sure that banning any kind of gun will do that. I would donate to a legitimate documentary, but I would be wary of being taken advantage of.