Wow - thanks for that info, always very interesting. Id guess it's also one of those things, since everyone practically has guns, you want a gun in case right? (Like the story's about having to do a sweep of your house with a shotgun is just crazy for me!) 

Ah I didn't consider the second amendment - the right to bear arms. 

See I think I'm quite fortunate to not have the availability of those kind of things - I was a very unstable child and it might not have gone so well one way or another, at least I don't think i'd still be around. I guess on one side it shows a huge amount of 'national maturity' in a way. I think if the UK had that kind of access it wouldn't go well at all - but I suppose that'd lead on to the kind of debates we are avoiding.