The safest place on earth

According to NRA logic, that would be Iraq, right Mr. LaPierre?

Seif has never fired a gun. He wouldn't know how one worked, he says. But that did not stop him buying both a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle last month.

In Baghdad, it can seem everyone these days is armed, a mark of violence that is ever more anarchic and prompting efforts by the government, U.S. military, and even militia leaders, to curb rogue gunmen, especially among majority Shi'ites, who threaten what the prime minister has called the "last chance" for peace.

Terrified by the thought of being caught up in the sort of street violence seen in several Baghdad neighborhoods in the past week, when dozens of people have been gunned down by squads of militants, Seif typifies Baghdad's spreading gun culture.

"I honestly don't know if I am ever going to use my guns," he said, showing how he keeps them at the ready in his car. "But it certainly makes me feel better these days.

"Why shouldn't I buy a weapon. Everyone else has one," said the 26-year-old, who works for a foreign company.

"It's very easy to get them," he added -- one of his friends keeps rocket-propelled grenades in his car for longer journeys.

Me, I pack a cooler for longer journeys. That's how I roll.

But nobody will mess with Seif now, boy. He's got himself some guns, and therefore has no reason to worry about his safety for another minute, if you believe the NRA.

Actually, this Iraqi man has good reason to be scared. And oftentimes it's scared people who buy guns. But unlike in Iraq, where chaos is rampant and unspeakable acts of violence are committed daily, many gun buyers in this country are scared simply of people who look different, that someone's going to try to take their stuff, or anything they don't understand. And why confront these fears when it's so much easier to buy a holster full of courage?