It appears that when you hassle the criminals rather than the law abiding, you get better results.
“I’m strappin’,” criminals like to boast when they are carrying a handgun. It is a way to get “street cred,” to intimidate. But they are “strappin’” less these days, according to the police, because aggressive law enforcement and the threat of federal prosecution and imprisonment has scared them into altering their behavior.
Cops on the streets, actually getting in the criminals' turf, and focusing on who commits crimes seems to get results. That's hard work and the results show. What's easy is to claim that guns themselves are the problem and that everyone should be punished for the actions of the few.
Hat tip Alphecca.