We have many laws regulating the ownership and use of firearms. Why not enforce them rather than make new ones?

Amid a wave of publicity about drug-related gun violence along the Mexican border and police killings in U.S. cities, more Americans than ever oppose new government efforts to regulate guns. Recent polls show shrinking support for new gun control measures and strong public sentiment for enforcing existing laws instead. So strong is the shift in public opinion that a proposed assault-weapons ban — once backed by three in four Americans — now rates barely one in two. Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, told reporters Tuesday that “every bit of data is showing us that Americans are getting more conservative about gun control.”

But is it really a question of being more conservative? Or is it simply a question of recognizing that more laws are not the solution to the illegal sale and use of guns when we already have many that go unenforced?