Because they’re elitists. Brits view Americans as unstable boors whose collective economic and military might — and personal access to firearms — make us inherently dangerous. In fact, as Dan Baum’s Gun Guys explains, American gun culture is based on moral principles. “We’re equality freaks. We endlessly congratulate ourselves for our Equal Protection Clause and our founding mythology of a classless society. If equal is good, and guns make us equal, then by extension guns are good. They make us sovereign and inviolate. An armed man is a little republic unto himself.” Dan was being both insightful and sarcastic (as is his wont). But there’s no getting around it: there’s a reason our forefathers revolted against Britain’s condescending collectivists and it’s got less to do with tea than gunpowder.