Bewolf

You are right, August. Peace is bought by violence more often then not. As sad it is, nobody is as dellusional as to think all problems are solveable without violence. For that humans are simply too stupid in general. Too often violence appears to be the easy solution, humanitarian issues not playing a role in descision making.

but...

...is pretty self evident. Arms in your country have not prohibited the Bush government of comitting any of it's crimes. It has not stopped rights taken away from US citizens in various situations, the patriot act and spying on it's own people. On the opposite, especially gun owners agreed to the Bush policies. In sofar I have little doubt most americans would support a dictatorship as long as this dicatorships acted as if to please domestic american interests. It's always astonishing to see that you guys still belive a dictatorship comes up over night and acts against the ppl. It does not work that way. Living in a country that had a brutal dictatorship compared to the liberal and free society nowadays is an eye opener in this regard.
Oh, and about jealousy for freedom and stuff, I can assure you most european countries enjoy more freedom in their daily lifes, especially when it comes to sexual, political and religious tolerance, then the US.

And why it is more harmful? The heck, this legal weap0ons thing created one of the largest and most lethal crime scenes found within the western world. Armed up to the teeth it is no wonder US police acts as harsh, american prisons are the most overcrowded and dangerous prisons on this planet and you guys still have to refer to the death penalty. A vicious circle indeed, a Pandoras Box opend that hardly can be closed again.

And about the Police, what the heck, certainly they are there to defend me. That is why I and every other citizen pays their wages. And the police in Europe is actually capable of letting me walk whereever I want and still feeling safe.

Example, when I was out on a field in the middle of Minnesota once, sleeping in the car I rented in my very first US trip, a sherrif came up to me, telling me that neighboutrs called him for a suspect figure out there and then told me to move to a secure area like a highway truck stop because I certainly wouldn't want to find myself knived in the morning. He was cool, even had a german last name he was proud to present to me with.

Could have been worse, in other countries I even might have gotten arrested, but the heck, there I realized what a paranoid country the US really is, at least for western standarts, calling the sheriff for me just sleeping there and the sheriff warning me of beeing murdered. That's not what I call a free society, when you can't feel secure even in the middle of a darn field in the middle of nowhere!
Even the mafia here is as smart as to not start gang wars or killing people outside the organisation to a degree it gets public attention.

And you ask what harm it does, the brutal kill figures for accidents and homicide figures not even taken into account?