Why use guns for killing

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It's pretty much the personal connection like everyone else said plus bombing takes a lot more premeditation than shooting and violence tends to be committed impulsively. I don't mean impulsive as in out of character. Matter of fact, I mean the exact opposite of that which is having an impulsive personality. So it's not to say they don't know what they're doing, but it's to say they weigh risk/reward in the short term rather than in the long term.

EDIT: Wrong disease, my bad.

In America, guns are very widely available.

In America, it is hard to access a bomb.

In Iraq, it is much easier to access a bomb, but in Iraq, if you want to kill people, you use a bomb.

Simples.

It's probably a lot easier to get guns and ammo than explosives or cyanide. If you use a gun show in the right state you might not even need to show ID, let alone have a background check. I think that explosives are a lot more tightly controlled than that.

In short- using a gun is more fun!

Thats the bottom line.

How do sport hunters kill?

They dont build bombs to blow up herds of deer.
They use long bows or guns.
Im talking about SPORTS hunters mind you. Subsistence hunters will build snares and traps.

Though availability is also a factor (as posted above).
You just gotta buy a gun, but you have to build bombs (atleast in america). Only the few dedicated and highly ideological killers in america go to the trouble of building bombs likeTed Kozinski, and Timothy McVie.

It depends on what the individual is trying to achieve. A well planned out bombing in the right place at the right time has a shock and awe affect that is hard to duplicate with one guy and an AR15 or whatever.

Oh, and I just realized; around here guys going on shooting sprees is almost unheard of, in the cities, but in May we had this bomb that killed 5 people and injured more. Bombs are more of an organized crime thing though, instead of a random guy killing random people.

That would only be true of individuals selling to each other and I don't think you can knowingly sell to a minor (sure about that) or a felon. Purchases from a gun dealer at a show still require a background check (they call BATFE and they run the check on you).

Maybe I'm being a bit freudian here but guns seem to be used by loners angry with society, bombs seem to be more popular with terrorists that have a movement and ideology behind them.

Breivik was a bit of both, ideological angry loner, so he used a bomb and a gun.

It is worth noting that Oklahoma size bombs are thankfully very rare, most bombs kill no one or only a small handful of people. Guns in general are easier to get hold of, require less skill and planning are more reliable and I'd bet that average death toll in a mass shooting is a lot higher than average death in a bombing.

Even though I'm leftwing, I don't think gun control will help in the US because if you really put your mind to killing thousands and inflicting terror on a nation you don't need guns or bombs to achieve your aims, half a brain will do.

Killing sprees are based on rage, depression, frustration, crying for help. It is a personal revenge.
Bomb is killing from distance. But if you are full of anger, you do not want to stand miles away. It has no point then. You want to do it personally. And best way is to use firearms. There are also killers using knives or cars, or hammers even (China in recent years). But only because they have no access to guns. Because guns are made for this purpose. You simply pull the trigger, it is very easy, effective, you are in full control of situation, face to face with your victims.

And. Yes they plan to kill as many people as they can. But few corpses later their desire is satisfied, their rage vanished. And they stop to kill. They do not resist arrest. Many times they do not shoot at police at all, they stop right after or even before police arrives. They have spent their fuel and do not need to kill anymore.

And they do not care about their own safety. Their acts are kind of ritual suicide. They do not want to live anymore, they kill themselves in many cases.
Terrorists on the other hand want to continue in their fight. They need more sophisticated and safe ways than firearms.

Bingo.

The gun people own us an explanation why the bad guy can 'always get an illegal gun' while it is so hard for the same bad guy to get a bomb or poison gas.

"Own" or owe an explanation?
First off we don't owe anyone anything.
Aside from that the bad guy can always get an illegal gun because the world is full of illegal things on the various black markets and in backstreet dealings.
Bombs usually can only be built but it takes some expertise to do it right.

So you are concuring my point. Why there is no black market for bombs and poison gas in the US?

As a matter of fact I can't say with certainty that there are NO bombs or poison gases available on the black market because I'm not a black market user.
If it's illegal there's a market for it that will be driven by availability, desirability, and the risks involved but not necessarily in that order.
I figure guns (especially non-class III) surpass bombs and weaponised poison gases in all three criteria.
I would think it would be much easier, if the knowledge is there, to home build a decent bomb or concoct poisonous gas than to home build a gun.
It's going to take more specialized machinery and know-how to build from scratch even a simple firearm that will be better than a zip gun.

Here we get back to the risk element mentioned above:
If a cop had reason to look in my vehicle and saw an AR15 laying on the back seat it probably would't get a second look unless there was reason to believe I was up to something. He might even ask what brand it is and maybe tell me about his.
A bomb, on the other hand, is going to mean a trip to jail.

Gun = So what?
Bomb = TERRORIST!! !! !!

Guns generally pose the least risk to the owner. You're holding in your hand a high-explosive fueled directed energy weapon driving a projectile. The energy is directed away from the shooter, and their may be a mechanism designed to handle recoil or the shooter can learn to compensate for it. Normal operation poses little risk to the user, other than burns, possible minor injury from recoil, and possible hearing loss. Firearms and ammunition are designed and manufactured in such a way to minimize danger for anyone other than whoever happens to be on the business end of the barrel.

Bombs can't be purchased at your local Walmart. Just making them poses considerable risk. Bomb precursors are monitored when they are purchased, and only certain people can buy them. All you need are basic farm chemicals, a trigger, and a detonator. It's more difficult to procure those items when they require a license.

Guns are easier and safer to carry, which means they are easier to trade underground. You may or may not need a license to purchase and carry a firearm, or even register them, and my home state of Mississippi is well known for lax gun laws, so gun runners are common in the Delta region between New Orleans and Memphis. There is a good chance your gun-carrying gang member in Chicago has a weapon that passed through the Delta.

Criminals aren't going to be all that concerned for obeying laws, so availability of guns and bomb materials will just depend on who wants them bad enough. It's going to be easier to get a reliable fully automatic assault rifle than it is to find a crazy enough person to manufacture and sell bombs.

There is also the fact that bombs are one-use-only. You really have to be a man on a mission to use one. Guns can be reused for as long as ammo and maintenance hold up.

Given that the Aurora shooter didn't have a plan for escape, a bomb would have better suited his purpose...maybe even a suicide bomb. Looks to me like he just wanted the media attention for whatever depraved purpose was going through his mind that day. It is truly an awful thing that happened. I hope he gets the death sentence.

Actually, I think that argument holds water in America. There are too many guns, a black market would probably have some success. You have deep rooted cultural issues that will take a long time to fix.

Shootings are much rarer over here because we have proper gun control. If a policeman saw that my dad had a gun on the back seat of his car, he'd pull him over and ask to see a license at the very least. You can't just get hold of a gun. There are far fewer shootings and accidents involving guns (10 people die due to gun crime per 100,000 in the US every year, compared to 0.43 in England and Wales- Scotland has 0.58 and is deemed to have a problem!)

Ironically Americans only get so hung up on the "right to bear arms" because it's a vestigial law from when much of America was part of the Empire- we've since removed it from our law!