Two famous people made statements about equality. The first being the renowned one by Thomas Jefferson's pen in the Declaration of Independance, that "all men are created equal". The next by an inventive gunsmith named Samuel Colt who termed his six-gun "the great equalizer".

Yes, when we are born into the world, we generally have the same number of fingers and toes, two arms, two legs, a nose, a mouth and a brain. By comparison, we would struggle to ideally see total equality beyond that while being realistic. Nature has a way of blessing and cursing someone - even at the same time.

Now throw in a weapon like guns. Are we more equal because of that or have we created a greater imbalance?

Let's use automobiles for an example, then come back to this. You may hear how we are supposed to be defensive drivers. We are to keep a wary eye out for our fellow commuters. Just like most people, I'd made errors of judgement or even neglect that nearly caused accidents. As a result, got shot the finger or was able to lip-read what they thought of me. On the flip-side of things, have become heatedly irate at the thought of someone being a little too careless in how they drove. Then sometimes we get in a hurry. Might be fear out of losing our jobs, anxious for a hot bath or rushing home to catch the start of our favourite sporting event. Then we become more of an aggressive driver... a person with a mission. Now we have doubled or tripled the likelihood of being in an accident, mostly as the cause of it.

We're human, sure. We'll make mistakes. We accidentally hit each other's cars. We even get emotional and do things a'purpose. Yet as a mass citizenry, do we fail to see how these mistakes carry over to sidearms or hunting rifles/shotguns?

Seeing someone toting a gun makes me feel less than equal. Someone armed with one will likely feel more empowered. Add in the elements of human error and emotion, a car goes from being a dangerous vehicle to a deadly thing. With firearms, they were built with the express purpose of being deadly.

Another, final comparison to make. If the Colt revolver was the equalizing factor in the era of the Wild West, then we can certainly say the nuclear weapons can be viewed as the same thing in the Cold War era and beyond. Everyone wants one. The more that have them, then all the more are going to want them. The point of this post is merely this: As much as we should ideally all have the same rights to own a personal firearm or exist in a nation which possesses a nuclear weapon; all things are not equal and those inequalities are what should seperate the "haves" and the "have nots".

Maybe we need a town marshal to force us to check our guns in at the edge of town... but on a global scale.