Why Do People Want To Own Guns?

Thank you for your answer. I hope everything has turned out alright for you. I also hope that you never have to use the gun for that purpose, and that the local authorities are able to protect you in the future.
While I have no use for firearms, I do not object to others having them. I was just curious as to why people want them.
Best of luck to you.

Thank you for your reply. This is not a debate on the right to own guns. I was interested in the psychological reasons behind the desire to own guns, especially for those people who have no practical need for them.
This is one of the very few countries that it is easy to legally own firearms. Perhaps I can be persuaded to see what I've been missing for not having one. : )

Did I say I wanted to ban guns? In this case it's not MY head that is in the clouds. Did you think that the pea-shooters in the hands of regular citizens would over-run the "government dictator"? Your freedom has already been gradually taken away and you don't even know it. Our forefathers were wise enough to include free election every four years to put that power in our hands to forestall any dictatorship. Your vote is your bullet. You decide whether you want to be a slave.

My intention for the question was to find out the psychological reasons for the fascination of normal people to want to own a gun. Your answer reveals an unreasonable (at least to me) paranoia that I do not share. (If I were you, I would not keep my gun under the bed--whoever is hiding down there may just take it from you.) Knowledge is power; truth-finding is the weapon. To follow blindly is to be the slave. Take the blinders off once in a while and take a different view—and try to imagine that not everyone else in the world is as stupid as you were told they were.
Thanks for the answer. May you find peace in your heart.

First of all, my guns are locked up in one place and the ammo is in another. Although I will teach my boys to shoot, in my opinion, they are not old enough to handle the responsibility of firearms.
Second, I support the NRA. "pea shooters", what exactly are you talking about? True, pea shooters are irrelevant when up against real guns. Real guns in the right hands can be affective.
Third, no one is speaking of banning guns. It was a hypothetical.
Fourth, paranoid i am not.
Fifth, i do agree that our rights dissipates constantly. This latest patriot act is a prime example. The government wants to "protect us", when all they do is allow themselves to keep a better eye on us.
Sixth, i am not the one with blinders on. I have seen our rights trampled for years. Its the liberal, socialist democrates doing most of it. The republicans are no angles either.
Seventh, alot of people in the world are as stupid as I've discovered myself.
And lastly, I have peace with myself. I know where I'm going after my time on this earth is done. You do seem to have some clarity in your thought process, so I imagine you will understand my response.

I think we have a few things we can agree on. I’m very glad you are careful when it comes to gun safety. So many people are so irresponsible, resulting in so many senseless tragedies.
What I meant was: Guns are just pea-shooters when confronted by a well-trained army—not really an effective tool.
I constantly force myself to see things from the other side. It is sometimes uncomfortable due to false pride and stubbornness on my part, but often I’m able to learn something new, or at least gain new understanding that not everyone was a complete idiot.