I've noticed this effect personally. I've never owned a gun and have no practical use for one, though I've enjoyed target-shooting the handful of times I've tried it. I have no interest in hunting and I live in a nice safe city, not some war zone; having a gun in the house would make me less safe, not more. And yet, whenever the topic of gun control comes up in the news, I find myself musing about the idea of buying one - solely because it might become impossible to do so in the future.<p>It's easy to understand why people who live in rural areas, or who are emotionally invested in the cowboy-shootout myth or the uprising-against-the-government myth or one of the other American gun myths, might respond to the latest mass-shooting news cycle by going out and buying more guns.