Here is a ratio to keep in mind when thinking about guns and crime: one in 10,000.
In 2018, the hilariously misnamed Government Accountability Office performed an audit of the federal government’s performance when it comes to prosecuting the easiest kind of gun-crime case; i.e., the crime that is committed when a prohibited person attempts to purchase a firearm through a licensed firearms dealer, a process that requires submitting to a background check. It is a crime for a prohibited person to try to purchase a firearm in any circumstance, but, in practically all of these cases, the person trying to buy the firearm lies on the background-check paperwork, which is called Form 4473 — and that is a felony that can bring as much as ten years in prison on the first offense and even more time when there are aggravating circumstances.
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