An armed society is not a polite society!

[HereSince1628]

9. There's a potenitally bad positive feedback loop in gun-carrying.

(Positive in this sense doesn't mean good or bad, it means a feedback that up-regulates a response--makes it stronger, while a negative feedback would down-regulate or cause a response be dampened)

Most people carry guns because they perceive (correctly or not) that they need the gun for personal protection.

A recent psychological study undertaken at Notre Dame (http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/29684-holding-a-gun-makes-you-think-others-are-too-new-research-shows/) found that holding a gun makes people more likely to think others are holding guns.

If that result extends from the experimental result to community streets, then it's quite possible that carrying a gun to make a person feel safe, actually makes that person think others are also carrying guns. It would follow that the act of gun carrying the person undertook to give his/herself piece of mind actually may make him/her more anxious and have greater need to be vigilant to the perceived risks represented by ordinary people they meet.

Polite doesn't seem like the right word to describe a community populated by nxious gun-toters ever vigilant for the need of a quick draw. Frightened seems more accurate.