We don't live in fear, just believe in being prepared. I have a fire extinguisher in my kitchen, but I'm not afraid there's going to be a fire; in the event of a fire, if I wait for the local firemen to get here my home may be destroyed so I am my own first line of defense should the need arise. As with the firemen, should there be an event requiring the police, by the time they get here the damage will most likely be done so again I am my own first line of defense. It seems that current gun laws in New Zealand are due in great part as a reaction to the Aramoana massacre but it appears to me that if some private citizen had had a firearm with which the gunman could have been stopped, there would have perhaps been far less loss of life. The rank and file cops at that scene apparently had to wait for armed policemen to arrive too - how lame is that? Seems to me there should be more people around who know how to use a gun to put a stop to those who would otherwise try to harm innocent victims. Just the knowledge that average citizens are packin' should be a deterent to the criminal element.