"just like us- but without guns. Which tends to make them nicer. "

Ebbie, when my brother moved to Los Angeles from Canada, he was amazed at how polite everyone was -- He attributed it to the PRESENCE of guns - using the opposite of your theory.

When I took the kids camping in Sequoia National Park (California), we had to tolerate the nightly presence of bears passing between the tents and molesting our cars (not in the Biblical sense.) I thought my son didn't know it, and he didn't say a word there or for several months. Then one day he announced he NEVER wants to camp there again with all the bears.