Why Americans overhwelmingly support Gun Rights

Every time some crazy walks into a public place and opens fire I see the same thing in the MSM op-ed pages.  Why oh why won't Americans support stricter gun control?  And every time I see those same whiny op-ed writers come to the same dumb conclusion.

It must be because the NRA is oh so powerful.

Wrong.

Support for gun rights has been growing among Americans for a generation and there is an explanation that is just simple enough to be obvious but not so simple that it lends itself to an easy explanation in the New York Times op-ed pages. 

The problem with gun control is that, at its very core, gun rights are irrevocably linked to the most basic of all human rights... the right to be safe and secure in one's home.  When Government says to us that they want to restrict our right to own or carry a gun, they are saying that average citizens cannot be trusted with a gun and that even if they could, Government can do a better job of protecting your life and property than you can.

So why aren't Americans buying this argument?

Because we don't trust Government. You see it over-and-over in the polls.  It's hard to find an insitution more reviled than Congress, and Presidential approval has been hovering at or below 50% for the last 12 years and counting.  When Government says "don't worry, we got this" Americans collectively call bullshit.

We look around and see that Government has failed, almost across the board, to successfully execute even the most basic functions for which it is responsible.  Government can't even operate on a budget... and I mean the REALLY can't operate on a budget... as in the Democratic controlled Senate has flat out refused to even propose one for going on four years.  Government can't even deliver the mail--which is something our government has been doing successfully for almost 300 years--without the post office going bankrupt.

Protecting the lives and property of American citizens is an incredibly complex and difficult undertaking, so if Americans look around and see Government failure everywhere we turn, in even the simplest and most basic functions with which we have tasked our political leaders, what on Earth makes them think we would ever trust them with our self-defense?!

No thanks. I choose to arm myself... well.

Remember kids, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

UPDATE:  This is such a perfect illustration of what I'm talking about.  Is there a more damning sentence than "DAY 4: When Federal Authorities took over."