During the video and reporting from Cairo last night, I heard automatic gunfire. MSNBC said it was just the army keeping order because neither protesters nor thugs were likely to have firearms. It occurred to me that it could have been very different if they had our gun culture. Not surprisingly, numerous bloggers had the same idea, and they show the usual divide:

Anti-gun bloggers expressed relief that few Egyptians, only 3% or 4%, are allowed to carry handguns, else there would have been far more bloodshed.

Pro-gun bloggers suggested that if more Egyptians were allowed to carry guns, their government would have been afraid to oppress them. They claim that anti-regime protestors are seizing guns from police stations, so there will be bloodshed.

We're so damn smart.

Back in America, firearms have become part of our daily lives. When I was a kid, half the fictional characters in films and television carried guns, but no one I knew in real life did - except police. Being shot at was the fate of those fictional characters, and a few desperate criminals and then, in a sudden shock, President Kennedy.

Not too much later was the tower shooting - ordinary students shot at by a stranger. Then Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. Then students shot for demonstrating. Then a blur of restaurant shootings, workplace shootings, fast food shootings, school shootings, even police shootings. Mass shootings are still unsettling and tragic - but not really surprising. And although the numbers of actual victims are small, the idea that you and your spouse and kids may get caught unarmed and shot to death resonates far more with Americans than the idea that they may roll their SUV while speeding.

While I walk to and from work, I occasionally wonder, "What if this guy has a pistol, or that guy, or someone behind me?" Some guy just surprised and killed four armed police officers. Another one wounded four - in a police station! Even if I was armed, what could I do about a gun already pointed at me?  Besides getting shot. Gun enthusiasts claim that situational awareness will help you prevail if a threat develops, but I'm doubtful.

I'm usually carrying something or on my bike or thinking about something I just read or want to write. To be situationally aware, I would have to give up my inner life, and focus on everything around me. I do that to a certain extent to be safe from vehicles and road hazards, but I suspect carrying a firearm would be a lot more demanding. Either it would be all I thought about, or I'd forget and accidentally shoot someone with it - probably myself.

Do I wish any of that on the Egyptians?