I'm afraid that my take on it is "Only in America" would there be a gun show, where an 8 year old kid would be handed a loaded usi. The reason so many people are getting killed by guns, is that there are so many guns freely available out there.
Take those '98 statistics, how many of those 11,802 homicides would have happened if there wasn't a gun to hand. How many of the 17,432 suicides - if there wasn't a gun to hand, maybe they would have changed their minds before they could find the poison - or maybe they would have been too drunk to make their way up on to the roof. Probably all of the 866 accidental deaths, would still be alive. One last point, how many of the homicides were committed by people who had a gun "for protection" under their bed, or in their purse and only used it to save themselves or their families ? - a very small percent.