Does anyone here carry a firearm everywhere they go?

[Starboard Tack]

141. There you go. You see, we're not that far apart.

Your ideal society is one shared by most of us, I'm sure. Where we differ is how we get there. My philosophy is to live by example. Your philosophy is to fight fire with fire and level the playing field. Not bad on the surface and makes some sense, especially in the short term. Unfortunately, that method will reach a point where the law of diminishing returns will kick in, creating a kind of stalemate and new status quo.
That, in itself, may bring us to a point where violent crime is down, regardless of any evidence, one way or the other, as to whether gun proliferation is a contributing factor. Now, the country is saturated with firearms and more and more people are carrying hand guns.
So far, so good, yet further away from our ultimate goal. Then something major happens, the shit hits the fan, politically, economically, environmentally, terrorist attacks, flu epidemic, whatever. The whole dynamic changes and we have a heavily armed, disorganized populace. All the ingredients for sectarian warfare, class warfare and/or anarchy.
I'm neither a conspiracy theorist, nor a doomsday predictor, on the contrary. I don't think carrying more guns today is the answer and I don't think imposing more gun control is the answer. Both are extremist IMO and serve to distract us from what we really need to be doing, which is coming together and figuring out how to re-float this country and it's economy for the long term. Spreading fear, which both sides do, along with many other fear mongers, is never going to help us move forward. Fear divides us and makes a few people very rich and very powerful.
I'm optimistic that we can survive and thrive by working hard and being imaginative in terms of renewable energy and reining in our insatiable appetite for consumer goods. Introducing more guns has no role in my plan. I find it divisive and it presents more of an obstacle. Also, I fear an eventual backlash from the right like after 9/11, and the loss of even more individual rights. I don't know if we're being set up or we're setting ourselves up. Maybe both.