It's a gunslinger mentality, having the weapon in hand make one more likely to act. The possibility of the other guy having a weapon increases the fear and makes one moke likely to shoot.

Can't argue with your numbers, but I think you spoke a greater truth than you knew, when you said it was the gunslinger mentality.

The Swiss have a gun in every home. They have to. It's a law. And they have a murder rate comparable to other european countries. I am told that the Mexicans are for the most part gunless. They have restrictive gun laws, and most people can't afford them anyway. But they evidently approach U. S. murder rates, relying on nothing but knives.

It's a question of mental attitude, not the available tools.

Note that, with the amount of guns in the U. S., if each and every gun in the country were used to commit one, and only one, homicide, you'd have to bring people in from outside to finish the job. The U. S. population would be gone before all the guns had been used.

Ergo: the great majority of guns do no harm.

Peter.