I was watching the British last night. It has devolved into something like a feudal system which lacks the dignity of work. Many, many lower class Brits sit around all day, waiting, helpless. The initiative is gone, the gladness in work is gone.
And guns are fundamentally empowering. I wonder if some do not seek out ISIS just to put a gun in their hands, to feel that power, that authority. Access to them is hugely psychologically important. They are agents of goodness and responsibility in the hands of decent people, and a CRITICAL element in a healthy democracy.
Finally: in hard times, commandments are much more useful than suggestions. Keep the Ten Commandments is much easier than “love thy neighbor”. True Christianity is much more advanced in some ways than the Mitzvot diet of the Jews, but it also requires a much more refined sensibility, which is why most Christians are not particularly loving, and in the case for example of the religious wars and witchcraft trials, have committed quite grievous sins in the name of “love”.