I think the point of pulling it off the shelf was, just because you can’t put out a fire doesn’t mean you should throw a gallon of gasoline into it.
Stephen King has written multiple pieces of gun related fiction over three decades, with pivotal perceptions; from terrorism, in Rage 1977, Apt Pupil 1982, Cain rose Up 1985, to justice and protection Dark Tower series 1978 – 2004.
I’m not sure when “Rage” was pulled off the shelf, if it was before or after The Columbine school shootings( When the psychological bullet of gun terrorism hit me first in my timeline) I don’t know everybody else’s timeline, Vietnam, JFK assassination, Columbine School shooting, Holmes theater shooting.
I don’t know when Stephen King decided that terrorism was no longer partly containable in fiction, or when it crawled entirely out of fiction and into reality a fast and spreading fire.
Image you are standing in the dark, you shoot a gun: a buck shot, a Gatling, a pistol, a rifle. As the gun goes off the sparks aluminate your victims, who are they, a president, civilians of war, kids at school, families in a dark theater; it doesn’t matter, you have decided you’re not a terrorist but the gun has already gone off: quick reach out your hand you can at least grab one bullet and bring it back in, at least try to prevent rage and gun terrorism from spreading.