> Wrong as well. A person without a gun is free in a society
> where no one else has guns, nor the will to do harm to others.
> We're looking for a Utopian Ideal here, right?
Some of us prefer reality to Utopia. It is idle fantasy to imagine that (1) technology can move backwards, and guns will vanish, (2) violent predators won't exist with or without guns, or (3) that police are capable of protecting us. If you can show some reasonably possible way to achieve any of these ends, perhaps then private gun ownership won't be necessary.
Actually there is a fourth option that might merit discussion on this list: non-lethal protective technologies. There are a few promising technologies on the horizon, but nothing very effective yet. Perhaps a bit more brainstorming would help.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC