Just 2 examples:
During the occupation (WW2), my grandfather and uncle were arrested by the Germans.
My grandfather was released very quickly (no proof of being a resistant found) but my uncle was sent to a jail for interrogation as he was suspected of being part of the resistance. His girlfriend (my aunt, today), found out were he was detained, went to the prison, got to be able to talk to the officer responsible for my uncle's arrest, and thanks to her very good knowledge of the german language, managed to convince him to release my uncle and thus saved his life.
The power of the word.
Anybody cought with guns, during the occupation, certainly got the visit of a squadron and his chance of survival was virtually nil, as he would have been suspected to belong to the resistance.

Another example:
The FBI sent squads to Waco Texas, because the sect had illegal weapons in their compound. The FBI attacked the compound, resuting in the death of several agents; then the sect set fire to the compound resulting in even more deaths. Then, a guy, out of vengeance, bombed the FBI building of Oklahoma City, resulting in even more victims. All those events were shown live, worldwide, through CNN.
Why did all this start? Because a sect was hiding an alarming number of weapons.
A typical catch 22 situation, isn't it? An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth and death spreads itself like oil on calm water.

Morality: owning guns (a phallic symbol) leads to suspicion and trouble.

Raoul