I know that the 2nd Amendment is sacrosant to many socially-conservative Americans, but it's actually a difficult concept to understand the purpose of, if you aren't raised with it, or simply obsessed with guns for their own sake.

Most European countries are primarily concerned with foreign enemies, and many have military service, so we tend to associate weapons with wars of invasion. Since the United States hasn't been invaded since the Brits retreated, and hasn't really experienced a real, nation-threating hot war since the Civil War, but the country is highly militarized and drowning in weaponry, I suspect the men have simply redirected their war spirit inland.

Europe, on the other hand, is now in its' second major war within my lifetime. Some Europeans have experienced 3-5 major conflicts, such as involving Romania, Cyprus, and Yugoslavia. And the chaos of life after communism was pretty bad.

We generally don't like shooting other people here, and don't associated it with glamour and fun and being a cowboy, so we just don't do it. Even in European countries where a lot of people own guns, there is hardly anyone being shot. We really do use our hunting rifles to shoot deer, and not our neighbors.

I think Americans think this means that European men are cowards. Remember, when Americans mocked Ukrainian men for not being familiar with guns and being wimpy schmucks?

Well, I don't hear that, anymore.