If you read the federalist papers and various letters and publications from the men who wrote the constitution, they mean that everyone should be able to own guns, and some go so far as to suggest that it be required that everyone own a gun.
The rest of the world doesn't understand the American culture, thus their problem with our wanting them. As a matter of fact, many northerners and especially New England don't understand this as well. This country isn't very old, and we're still under the influence of old habits. If you've ever seen a western, they're not kidding when there's bad guys stealing everything and most of the areas being lawless. The only way anyone was able to keep their property safe was fighting fire with fire. We still to this day have a huge problem with lawlessness. A little over 10 years ago my Dad was flying out of Oklahoma to Europe. It was a night flight. As he's parking, he gets out and leans over to tie his shoe. He saw in the wheel someone coming up behind him with a club; he grabbed his pistol he kept under the seat, turned around, and the guy backed off.
Back in 89 or 90, my grandpa was at home and the doorbell rang. He was dying, so he wasn't able to get to the door very fast. There was no one there. He then hears something in the bedroom- it's breaking glass. He pulls out his gun and is ready, and walking into the living room where he's waiting is a robber. The robber immediately left.
Had my dad and grandpa not had guns, my dad would have either had serious brain damage, lost the car, and may have died. I have no doubt my grandfather would have been seriously harmed, possibly fatally. This sort of thing happens every day. If guns are taken away, only the criminals and police will have them. Personally, I can't wait the 10 minutes for the cops to get here if there's someone mugging me, breaking into my home, or threatening me.
EDIT: And even though they could have both shot, they didn't. They are both responsible and were ready, but knew they didn't need to shoot.
If I was in a spelling bee, I'd kick everyone's arse.
I've been reading since I was 3...that has something to do with it
