God is a Bullet

People keep posting things like, Hey I hope you'll care this much next time it's a classroom of third graders.

But that is drastically missing the point. The Christian-Republican conversation will not turn to gun control. Ever. Because solving the problem is not the point.

The conversation they are having is about free will and vengeance. To carry the gun is the embodiment of free will, which they think of as God's gift and burden. In their worldview, you get to carry the gun, but you have to choose not to sin with it. I.E don't kill their beloved political leader or a classroom of third graders. (questionable claims of self-defense are given all manner of grace, because only God can know the truth. . .) this helps them avoid responsibility and the uncomfortable feeling of cognitive dissonance.

But you can't preemptively stop someone from sinning by taking his guns away, because  that denies his free will. So instead of finding a solution, it becomes about exacting vengeance upon someone who sins. That's the worldview, that's the paradigm. The point is not to protect the 3rd graders or to find a solution. The point is the enact a morality play. That's the whole game.

No one who was at that rally is the least bit swayed towards arguments for gun control. 

They simply want another person using THEIR free will to be a holy protector and avenger.  That's it. They just want the avenger to punish the wicked. And the worse the punishment the more it will win them over.