You have to live there and get a sense of the culture and history. It’s all tied up with the war of independence and the compromises made between the colonial states of the time when putting together a federal government and constitution. In the minds of many, the right to bear arms (i.e., own guns) is a fundamental symbol of the freedoms of the states, and the individuals living within the states, relative to the authority of the federal government. The idea of keeping the federal government in line is central to the US system. Indeed, the principal role of the supreme court is to stop the federal government passing illegal (i.e., unconstitutional) legislation.
A large no of people in the US have only a very minimal belief in the role (and benefit of) a central government. Just today, at lunch time, I visited a whisky store here in Auckland and got into a conversation with the guy who runs it. He is an American, originally from the State of Montana. He’s been out of the US for more than a decade. His first comment relative to his homeland was that “within his lifetime” Montana and Texas will both succeed from the union…the federal government is simply becoming more and more like a dictatorship, and free-minded states like Montana and Texas have had about enough….well! we’ll see!
Best
Howard
