Musing: In the wild and free states like Montana and Alaska there is a common sense of both individuality and community and people feel the obligation to stop senseless violence. There firearms are like cars or power tools: dangerous but part of making life work. They are tools responsible people maintain and secure.
In the "TV states" like NY and CA people's association with firearms is that only criminals have them. It is a dangerous assumption to perpetuate as criminals/predators need to know there may be consequences to criminal behavior.
I take inspiration from the Monarch Butterfly-- as do many species that mimic them. Monarch's contain the toxins of the plants they ate as caterpillars and are unpalatable to many predators. Google "Batesian mimicry." Society benefits from the knowledge of the presence of ethical armed people. Thats where the free states seemingly confounding statistic of crime decreasing with more guns/less gun laws originates. Like the French Paradox in health where the French eat a high fat diet and drink alcohol and live longer than Americans who appear to do the same: the mechanisms are obscure on paper but more obvious in life. The source of the food and moderation are likely key.
Maybe working in healthcare I've seen more of the equation of life-- e.g. for a time I gave shots (long acting antipsychotic IM injections) to formerly psychotic pedophiles that allowed them to have normal lives in the community-- maybe near you. I've helped the so called good and bad and seen them both behave completely out of character. And felt the pater/maternal instinct to protect loved ones and employees with less than favorable odds. I currently pay the rent by selling narcotics-- as a pharmacist-- in a higher crime area in a pharmacy with bullet holes in the windows. Mostly in California we are blessed with abundance and live violence free lives. I love it here.
But I know it has not always been the norm in human history and it didn't get this way without strong ethical people. And it wasn't John Wayne and the Lone Ranger and an amazing justice system. It was a lot of good people. And many of them were armed.
