According to Johnson, "the problem is the human heart. It's not guns, it's not the weapons."

[Model35mech]

20. More likely to be a problem with the brain's processing perceived threats

into solutions that involve killing people with firearms.

The Conservative mind is really BIG ON FEAR., Jost et al conducted a meta-analysis of 88 sample studies from 12 countries, considering over 20,000 cases of conservative behavior. They confirmed that fear was the big promoter of conservative behavior, some of their results expressed as correlation coefiicients include in rank order: death anxiety (r.50); system instability aka the society they know is falling apart (r= .47); dogmatism–intolerance of ambiguity (.34); with sub components of openness to experience (r=–.32); tolerance of uncertainty (r=–.27); need for order, structure, and closure (.26). They also had difficulty with rationally integrating complexity (–.20); fear of threats to self and personal losses (.18); and low measures of self-esteem (–.09).

The GOP's cult of fear pushes puffed up irrational bravado in the face of their fears. It's not too strange that theu hear the voices from the NRA that preach guns provide personal protection and so, faced with a world they fear and can't comprehend they a gun in their hands is an instrument for achieving power and pushback against all things in their pumped up fears.