I only caught part of the show, but Bob was hammering on the idea that the two who were murdered in the woman's home recently could have been saved if she had had a firearm.

Opposition to this idea, it seems to me, operates in one of three modes:

1. Gun hatred, which is very primitive and silly, but still a major factor.

2. The fear that a gun kept for self-defense will somehow get used to harm somebody in the family (an amazingly persistent idea, despite the facts).

3. The unexamined idea that the police and courts can somehow protect you better than you can yourself. If people only thought this one through, they would realize that a police authority so omnipresent and effective that it can step in whenever anybody, anywhere, is about to harm somebody else, would be an absolute nightmare. You would have to have a cop in every room, including the bathroom. ("Just go ahead and do your business, ma'am. I'll just turn my back. I'm used to the smell, so there's no problem about that.")