Up to our necks in arms
From Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, by Michael Bellesiles, to be published in September by Knopf. Bellesiles cites research suggesting Americans were largely indifferent to gun ownership until the Civil War. The decision to allow soldiers to keep their weapons after the war, he says, transformed the gun from a tool to a perceived necessity -- a difference in perception that drives the gun debate even today.