"If we’ve currently reached epidemic levels of gun violence, what were we enduring in 1995, when the violent crime rate was double what it is now?"

Ignoring facts in order to advance a political agenda is the easiest way to undermine your own argument.  For anyone who cares about that kind of thing, that is.

Bernie Sanders Wrong About 'Epidemic' of Gun Violence, Demands Gun Control - Hit & Run : Reason.com: "It’s probably true that there has been a slight increase in mass shootings in the United States (although that depends a great deal upon how “mass shooting” is defined), but it simply isn’t the case that gun violence has “reached epidemic levels.” 

As Reason’s Nick Gillespie noted earlier, violent crime has plummeted since the early 1990s. If we’ve currently reached epidemic levels of gun violence, what were we enduring in 1995, when the violent crime rate was double what it is now? How can we “reach epidemic levels” if things are actually getting less bad? Even a single mass shooting is a tragedy, and it’s worth discussing whether stricter gun laws would make such a thing less likely, but gun control activists can’t pretend the country is getting much more violent. The facts suggest the opposite."