I find it hard to believe that any of these people would seriously enjoy living in any society so choked by perpetual fear of our fellow citizens’ mobile arsenals that we feel compelled to carry around assault rifles at all times.

What a dysfunctional hell-hole of a country that would be. I have better things to do with my time and money than engage in a perpetual arms race with everyone else around me.

There is zero cost-benefit rationale I can think of that would indicate a pointless escalating spiral of paranoid self-armament has any chance of creating a happier, more productive, and more globally competitive society.