In the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech, I spoke with my nephew back home in Virginia. He is an interesting guy, well educated and articulate, he is president of a successful family-owned lumber business. He also owns a “conceal carry permit” which allows him to carry a concealed firearm.

In fact, my nephew rarely carries a gun on his person, but he always has a firearm to hand both in his car and at home. He also has a perfectly legal collection of around 20 guns, and, unusually for a civilian, he occasionally attends a shooting class. He says that at his most recent class, about 15% of the people attending were women.

My nephew argues that not only is it every American’s right to carry a firearm, but it is also their responsibility. “Each person,” he says,” should not rely solely on the government for protection.” At the root of this view is something very American — not just fear of crime, but mistrust of government. This is why Americans cling so furiously to their right to bear arms. It’s not that anyone truly believes that government troops are about to come running up the driveway waving guns at them — but they don’t completely rule out the possibility.

This mistrust is what fuels popular TV series such as 24, in which Kiefer Sutherland’s character is more often than not at odds with corrupt elements within his own government. Added to that, most Americans don’t believe that if some criminal comes to attack them, the police will definitely be there to help them.

This lack of trust is partly a hangover from frontier culture; it is also because Americans have ejected one ruling government and we were careful in our constitution to ensure that its replacement would be bound by strict limitations.

A gun, to my nephew, is both an equaliser and a deterrent. It enables an individual to stand up to a more-powerful “other”, whether that be a government or a criminal; it deters this “other” from attempting to do harm in the first place. An armed populace is one far less easy to subjugate, he points out, and after that it doesn’t take him long to get back to the American Revolution.

In short, if everyone were armed, and known to be armed, everyone would be more secure. We’re not talking here about everyone carrying around a handgun, but rather creating the general perception that everyone, potentially, is equipped to look after themselves.

The truth is that the majority of Americans will never give up their right to own weapons, however many awful massacres take place. The reasons are complex, historical, and probably not wholly rational. They are tied up in the sense of individual liberty and our need for self-sufficiency, as well as our deep-seated mistrust of government. I myself am not a gun person; I’ve never even held a gun. But I understand and respect my nephew’s point of view: We are a nation of individuals, jealous of our civil liberties, and we are suspicious of any power or agency capable of curtailing those liberties, be it a government or a criminal. — The Guardian