Hi Jim,
yes we do have guns here and they're in the hands of farmers, professional hunters (culling), registered sporting shooters, police and army....and a relatively small number of criminals!

I grew up with guns as I lived in the country, my grandfather fed his family on duck and rabbit in the very hard years after WWII, I have no problem with guns in their place.

I can't see how city life requires the use of firearms, unless everyone else also has firearms.... I'm just surprised that it's seen as acceptable for so many people to have them. I've never been shot at while taking a photo, not accidently by hunters nor purposely by morons and there's a reason for that. This isn't a criticism of The United States, just an observation that two people there have narrowly missed being killed while taking photographs.

It's also true that I've never had a beer bottle thrown at me while taking photographs and we do have a lot of beer here.