Oldog/Newtrick:
That's exactly correct. Your country was founded by people who wanted to break away from a domineering monarch, and one of the ways they felt they could guarantee continuation of the principles of freedom and liberty on which your country was founded was to allow everyone to "bear arms". The population would always outnumber the government's army, and so the government would always be "out gunned" in any public revolt. That was a clever and effective way of ensuring that the government would always be subservient to the people, and not the other way around.
But, that constitution was written in what, 1776? Times have changed. "Arms" are still weapons, but there's little similarity between a musket or a dueling pistol and modern guns. The Arms that you are guaranteed in your constitution have shrunk in size and increased in power and criminals are now using those arms to rob people, rape women and commit murder and other crimes. This is something that was never envisioned by your founding fathers.
Really, in my view, turning to the U.S. Constitution to find an answer to a modern problem is the same thing as turning to the Bible to find answers to modern problems. But, things have changed so much between then and now that answers that worked well back then don't work now. According to the Bible, there's nothing wrong with slavery, and homosexuals are an "abomination in the eyes of God". So, we should still have slaves and we should persecute faggots.
I believe modern problems require contemporary and effective solutions based on today's realities, and to say that handguns are protected by the Constitution isn't much different than getting some friends together to go beat the crap out of some gay guy, and claiming that the Bible protects a persons right to hate and persecute homos.
But, I'll be the first one to recognize that guns are an American issue, and it's really none of my business what you guys do within your own borders with the curtains drawn.
Also, I think everyone agrees that responsible gun ownership isn't an issue. There are lots of people in my country that still use their guns to put food on the dinner table, and it would be wrong to take their guns away. The problem is the 16 year olds that "wanna be a gangsta" and are young/stupid enough to shoot at someone just like on Snoop Dog's video. If it weren't for guns falling into the hands of those people, there would be no issue.