Guns Rights vs. Gun Control

This topic has been floating around for a long time in the United States.  The attack on Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown brought this debate back to the forefront.  Many liberals argue for stricter gun control laws, background checks, and in some cases even bans on guns.  Conservatives on the other hand seem to agree with background checks but prefer softer gun control laws and no bans on guns.  Personally, I  fall in the middle, with a lean towards the liberals.  I believe better background checks should be performed on those registering for guns, I mean in many states now people have a greater challenge trying to register to vote than getting a gun.  I also believe that some of the small regulations like decreased magazine and clip size for guns should be implemented.  If you need more than ten rounds before reloading to take something down, you have a bigger problem than having to reload your gun.  I do not believe, however, that the U.S. government should try to ban assault rifles.  I agree no one really needs to have an assault rifle and that they cause more damage than good, but the same could be said of alcohol, smoking, and now in Colorado, marijuana usage, but I do not think the government should tell people they can not have them and also the decreased magazine capacity would go a long way to stop or at least lessen tragedies in the future.  Tell me what you think on the topic?