Born and raised in Oklahoma. At this point in my life, I tend to agree a bit more with D2D than yourself.
The fallacy to your "ban bats and tools and knives" argument is that all of those those items primary use is something other than killing. To ban everything that could be used to kill someone is an elementary argument, society would shut down. But to ban guns, although you won't agree, is much more reasonable. Guns are designed, manufactured and sold for one reason, to kill. That's it.
And that's why when a 2 year old shoots and kills his mom in Wal Mart, you get this reaction. This discussion.
Honestly, I wouldn't care if the US banned all firearms except hunting guns. But I'm not going to go out and lobby for it.
I would 100% vote to ban semi-automatic assault style rifles for civilians to own, like the AR-15. I don't believe owning those types of guns make us any safer but the exact opposite. They were designed for the theater of war and that is where they should stay.