I sidearm has only one purpose. To shoot people at close
range, and be easily concealed.

I realise that making guns harder to get _will_ still allow certain
bad people to get guns. But it will stop a lot of casual bad people
from getting guns.

I can see you don't know much about guns or "bad people". A good example is
Jamaica. A very tough place to "get a gun". They have what they call "gun
court" where even possesion of a single bullet results in indefinite detention
with no trial. (assume this is still the case) Virtually everyone there in the
countryside has guns. Shootouts are quite common. BTW, there are a lot of
good, legitimate sporting uses for sidearms besides "shooting people at close
range".
Greg Sefton