The United States bill of rights comprises 10 “no-go zones” which protects peoples liberties from Government interference. The US bill of rights uses the even older English bill of rights of 1689 for its inspiration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689. Both documents are still valid legal documents, and both allow citizens to carry firearms for their own self defence.
The Second Amendment to the U.S constitution is very concise, a single line which reads.
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
The simple beauty and clarity of such an important statement should never be underestimated. The true genius of this amendment is that it gets more important and thus more popular, as the government becomes more omnipotent. There is beautiful circular reasoning to this, that goes like this.

1. Our government is restrained by its governing document which is the U.S. Constitution.

2. The Constitution confirms our right to bear arms.

3. Therefore, we will support the U.S. constitution, which limits the government’s power.

4. We are armed, and we require that the government follows the constitution.

5. Back to number1.↑

With the stroke of a pen, the power of the people is absolute, and totalitarian power is held in check for now.
As most people would be aware, gun ownership in society is a touchy subject; many innocent people have been slain in tragic circumstances by evil people using guns. In the USA alone the death toll each year from guns is around 3 per 100,000 population with about double that for suicides.
Regarding gun deaths, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and look at Democide. Democide refers to the murder of an individual or a group of people through direct actions that were taken by their government. The numbers are staggering, since 1900 its estimated that more than 242 million people have been killed. Some of the worst Governments include China; (soviet) Russia; North Korea; Uganda; Mexico; Cambodia; Rwanda and others. These deaths do not include war, but rather forced starvation; labour camps; political executions, genocides, forced relocations and the like, even the actions by China against their own peaceful protestors in Tiananmen Square would fall into this category. Obviously, civilians in these instances did not have the capacity that U.S Citizens have of defending themselves against their own government, in many cases, firearms were heavily regulated or confiscated before the government crack-down got under way.
No discussion of civilian gun ownership would be complete without including the example of Switzerland, a culturally cohesive country with high living standards, surrounded by the deteriorating socialist, multi-cultural, and sometimes violent melting pot of modern Europe. One major difference between Switzerland and the rest of Europe, is that the Swiss have border control with Europe; are well armed; and share a strong national identity. Enough said!
In Australia, our very own government refuses to let Australian Citizens use self-defence as a reason to own a firearm, you cannot own a firearm solely to defend yourself anywhere in Australia. Apparently, Australians are either perfectly safe as they are, or they cannot be trusted to own a firearm, unless they have a valid other reason.
So, we have yet another odd conundrum, courtesy of your ever-helpful government. We are stopping you from protecting yourselves, in order to protect you. Welcome to the utter absurdity of the nanny state!