Where I grew up, everybody had guns--rifles and shotguns mostly, not handguns--and nobody worried about it. Out in Gold Country and other rural places I have seen a lot of people actually packing pistols in a belt holster like old-time cowboys.

The basic problem with numberless gun laws that seems to elude so many people is that, by definition, only non-criminals are going to obey them.

In other words, the people who will conscientiously dismantle their guns to take them somewhere in a car are exactly the people you don't worry about having a working gun. The inverse is also true.

The key is to have a society that encourages honest people to pack heat. The crooks always will, no matter what laws are passed.