It was also set up at time when our country was in a very real danger of being invaded by another world power with the capability to do so. There were several. And on top of that, there was a huge, unsettled, and largely-unexplored frontier to contend with.
You have to look at it in context. Amazing that you seem to have an inability to do that and at the same time, come into this thread calling people "dumb" simply because they're willing to be inconvenienced in order to save lives.
The fact of the matter is that in the late 1700's, guns were tools, and that's all. Most people didn't "collect" them, there weren't gun stores, gun shows, and guns weren't romanticized like they are today. The latter is mainly due to the fact that the population - which was a drop in the bucket to what we have today - didn't have Hollywood to push everyone's buttons about bad guys with guns, heroes with guns, guns saving the day, etc. Guns in colonial America had about the same "cool factor" as a set of pliers.
These are also things which many people "don't get," (or choose not to), mainly because it would involve some kind of personal sacrifice. And in a selfish, gun-romancing society, that's an uphill battle.
TOOL^
I am not sure what history book you have been reading, but the right to bare arms had nothing to do with "another world power" you are thinking of the cold war there robocop. It was set in a time when government got so big and powerful its people (our great-great grandparents) had to leave too stand a chance at being free. Later, said government came to get it's property back (our great-great grandparents) and they were held off by.....you guessed it guns.
Now you want to throw ATF stats in there. tell me this....violent gun crime have been on the decline for several years IN A ROW.... this is from 2006 (reported by the FBI).
Being a police officer myself I can agree with you that 80 percent of the guns I have taken from people are legally owned, but lets get real here. 80% of 3 guns in two years is hardly something to base such a bold decision on.
let us say for a moment that you cannot be a cop until you are 84 years old. or heaven forbid you get hurt chasing a drunk driver (the cause of many times more death than guns) and can no longer work. Now you are not a cop...no guns for you....
Okay, to agree with you one more time, gun have been glamorized, drawing attention to them from people who have little to no training on them. I agree 100% that modern times has made it "cool" to have guns and being "cool" is a piss poor reason to have a gun.
I am a hug proprietor of personal gun ownership and gun safety, however I agree with background checks (sorta) but more over, you have to pass a test in proficiency to be issued a drivers license. I think it is reasonable you must pass a similar proficiency test to carry a fire arm. More than half of gun related deaths in the US can be associated with accidents (ATF 2009). I believe it could be useful to educate people.
THE ONLY WAY (A RIGHT TO BARE ARMS) can or will be effective, is if we have adequate arms to ward off our enemy, in this case as with in the 1700s; our government.
I get it, you are a cop and you don't want guns pointed at you by bad guys. But guess what, we sign up for that.....we know the danger..... I knew the danger when I served in the Army and I knew the danger when I served in desert storm.
There is no clean answer to the "right gun laws" but taking away or limiting legal gun owners is not the solution. If someone told you that you could only have one car in your family to help reduce drunk driver related deaths you would count the a fool.......Open your eyes brother, this has nothing to do with saving lives, this is simply our government insuring it has the bigger stick.