In UK in the the late forties, all the little boys had toy guns with which to play 'cowboys and Indians'. There were rolls of paper 'caps' you could feed into the guns to make a realistic shooting sound. I clearly remember trying out a toy gun, and the tremendous feeling of power it seemed to give me. I actually enjoyed 'shooting' a nearby boy and saying "You're dead!" I wonder if this feeling of power is part of the attraction of owning/using a real gun? I was quite a timid child, but that 'gun' suddenly made me feel wonderfully dominant and strong.