What's interesting, jcpro, is WHEN America decided that "personal weapon ownership is a vital part of their existence..."  Not until about 30 years ago.  The 2nd amendment was written and passed into law over 200 years ago.  

What happened to change the way Americans thought and acted?

"For nearly a century after, its founding in 1871, the National Rifle Association was among America’s foremost pro-gun control organizations. ... In the 1920s and 1930s, the NRA’s leaders helped write and lobby for the first federal gun control laws—the very kinds of laws that the modern NRA labels as the height of tryanny.

"It was not until 1977 when the NRA that Americans know today emerged, after libertarians who equated owning a gun with the epitome of freedom and fomented widespread distrust against government—if not armed insurrection—emerged after staging a hostile leadership coup."

Read more, in The Surprising Unknown History of the NRA, (Author: Steven Rosenfeld. Source: Alternet.)