"They do say that if you're ready for a war, war will come."

That does sometimes happen, Ebbie. One country, for example, decides to increase the size of its fleet (as Germany began doing in the early 20th Century. Its potential competitors in that respect reacted by increasing the size of their fleets, the UK being particularly concerned that the Germans should not be allowed to rival the British Navy. The increase in launchings of new ships by the British worried the Germans, so they increased their shipbuilding even more. That really worried the English, so they redoubled their efforts to stay well ahead of the Germans....and so on...and so on...

So you had a fullblown naval race underway which cost both nations an incredible amount of money and eventually turned them into deadly enemies. All for nothing. Those bloody damned expensive ships were the main reason that the UK decided to fight the Germans in WWI....after having been allies of those same Germans for generations due to having a common enemy: France. ;-)

So in this case the fact that the Germans and British were getting ready for a war (and so was everyone else, by the way) did inevitably finally lead to a war worse than any of them could ever have imagined.

So, yes, there's something to be said for your argument.

Then there's the psychic angle of visualizing a possible future all the time and thus attracting it...but I won't get into that. It would drive the meat and potatoes people here up the wall. ;-)

Seems to me that a sensible compromise would be to have a gun, know how to use it properly, and keep it in a safe place for if you should ever need it...but not be constantly obsessed with the issue and having "Make my day!" fantasies about it. That's if you want to have a gun...

If you don't, just don't worry about it. Chances are fairly good that you will never have occasion to use one.

I think the wisest course a country can follow regarding being "ready for a war" is to maintain a relatively small military force that is clearly no overt threat to one's neighbours...but is exceedingly well trained and ready at all times if needed for defense. That's the middle ground between having an arms race and being completely unprepared.