...I love to set off fireworks. Love the feel of acceleration in fast cars and in planes. And the (not all that many) times in my life that I fired a gun or rifle, I had a blast (ip).

You are right that if someone's going to make the "necessary-for-self-defence" pro-gun arguement, then it really excludes most weapons and load-sizes, because they are certainly overkill.

The arguement that really scares me is the one that suggests that people need to be able to protect themselves from "the government" by force of arms. There are folks who think there's an imminent threat from Uncle Sam and are building stockpiles accordingly. Further, since their perceived threat is the US government, they feel justified to accumulate powerful weapons and explosives. None of that sissy hand-gun stuff, if you're expecting a marine assault.

I hope this only leads to "isolated incidents", but we will see where it ends up.