Involved, not converted
from infancy, or even pre-natal development. My Dad (Federal LEO, a straight arrow with a work ethic and principles) gave my mother an M1 carbine for Mother's Day, a few months before I was born (and I'm their oldest). They went to the rifle range before I was born, too, so I suppose that's where I first associated gunfire with warm, happy feelings. Both sides of my family are from farming country in the midwest, and my paternal granddad worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Growing up, I was aware that some people were against guns and hunting; heck, I'd heard about monarchists, the Soviet Union and George Orwell, too. My friends in school and I looked with ridicule upon people who thought the world was flat, and characters with loony beliefs were a staple of comedy shows and cartoons. Normal people had guns, and cars, and houses, and that was that. Ban guns? Try to exterminate Jews, Poles, gypsies and other people? Kill everybody in a Bronze Age city when it was captured after a siege? Sure ... lots of outrageous things happened back in historical times.
Fortunately, we were different. Our fundamental human rights to speak, to believe as we chose, to assemble, to defend ourselves and our country, to live without having to justify everything to government officials, to a trial, if accused of a crime, by a jury of our peers where we'd be able to face our accusers and compel witnesses --- all of those were protected by the Constitution. It was pretty much a holy document, as far as we knew. Fundamental human rights aren't privileges; they're conditions that are necessary and proper to human life. It was obvious; this was the best way to set up a country.
Some people still believe that. I like Justice Scalia's approach to various efforts by public officials: "show me in the Constitution where it says that the government can do that." Do I still think that "because it's holy" is the reason to follow the Constitution? Nope. The reason is that anything else makes life worse. Governments exist to protect fundamental human rights from the actions of those who would violate them. To be able to count on one's fundamental human rights is necessary to life as a human being. Self-defense is simply and obviously one of those rights.
The notion that the government works for us, and not the other way 'round, is the reason our economy is so strong. It's the reason that Americans have won so many Nobel Prizes. It's the reason so many things have been invented here. It's the cause of the economic and social conditions that prompt people to people flock here: the idea is that you can do whatever you want, more or less, and you only run into trouble if your actions cause trouble for others. What - nobody's going to kill me for running a business without paying protection money to a local corrupt official, or for being a Lutheran/Catholic/Jew/Muslim/Animist/Pagan/Hindu/Buddhist/Taoist/atheist/never-thought-about-it person/ whatever I might be? I can say that such-and-such a politician is incompetent, and nobody kicks down my door at 3am? Cool.
To be able to protect those fundamental human rights, we have a government. Let's populate it with straight arrows, educated people and honest folks. We have the power to do that. Vote, write letters, give money, share ideas in places like this forum. I'm sitting here right now, thinking, "throughout most of human history, and in a lot of countries even today, I'd go to prison for writing something like this." Not here. Not ever.
My parents taught me that.
Who says violent bloody games don't cause good outcomes in the world 
