Can it be done in America

The New Zealand Parliament voted 119-1 to ban assault weapons less than a month after an Australian man ran amok and killed dozens of people with an assault rifle in that country of 3 million people.  Meanwhile, in America, literally thousands of people have died by gunfire in mass shooting incidents since a lone deranged man killed 2 dozen children at Sandy Hook elementary school.  Why can't we do the same thing in the land of the free and the home of the brave?  Why do we need to possess souped up killing machines for which there is no other reason than to kill fellow human beings.  Eric Swalwell, the congressman from California is running for president with the promise to ban assault rifles and he is being inundated with hate mail and phone messages threatening imminent death.  Having never been enamored of guns, I can't speak to their attraction, but I believe gun manufacturers and their mouthpiece, the NRA, have taken a utilitarian object and made it a fetish.  Until and unless we educate a new generation, we will be unable to join the people of New Zealand in a future without weapons of mass destruction.