It seems to me that a lot of people in this discussion who are supporting the right to own guns site "fear" as their reason for wanting to own a gun. If you're owning a gun because you feel the need to defend yourself, you must fear something.

Having lived in London for a while (in 1992, during a period of intensive IRA bombings), I can say that, personally, I felt much safer there than I ever felt in New York or Washington DC or any other American city that I spent any time in. And I think part of the reason I feel less safe in America is "guns" and another part of it is a general distrust of one's fellow man (and woman) that seems more prevalent here than in other places in the world. And they're two sides of the same coin. In general, the flow of life in America, I think, isolates people. Driving all the time. Sitting in front of the TV all the time. There's much less socializing in the States, and I think it makes us feel less comfortable around people. And distrust them. And maybe even fear them. And I think it's distrust and fear that makes us want to buy guns.

Of course, there are some very real reasons to fear and distrust, but the situation seems somehow self-perpetuating. Someone in this discussion used the phrse "cold war" to describe the gun situation here in the States, which I thought was very appropriate.

That's not to say that the rest of the world is having an all-out love-in. But people seem much more at ease with strangers in other places I've lived--in Europe and Asia--than they do here.

Sorry to go on and on, tomtom