The only denial going on is denial of forty years of research showing gun control has no effect on crime and violence rates and that all harm from firearms has been trending downward the past 50 years even as more guns are legally owned and legally carried.

In the developed world criminal violence is a problem concentrated among a very few individuals. In the US, based on every extant bit of evidence from major cities, 80%+ likely the responsibility of probably only a couple hundred thousand known repeat violent offenders nationwide. Not "gun access," not legal "gun ownership." People, and a very few of them.