"his [Bush's] reluctance to restrict the right to bear arms..." This amazes and perplexes me, as well. But I hear it from my brother, my sisters, most of my cousins, etc. There is an organization that seems to understand - Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. But I have only heard of them, and don't know any members. Residents of the Warsaw Ghetto had only about a dozen weapons, and held out for weeks. Why, with that history, would we not consider being armed and ready a sacred duty?
The Warsaw uprising wonderfully illustrated what a mere handful of firearms can unleash against one's foe - even a foe as vicious and combat-tested as the Waffen S.S. Think of the damage Warsaw's civilians could have inflicted if every single person willing to fight had had a rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition. You would have seen a few thousand snipers holing Fritz heads from every frigging nook and cranny of the community. I'm sorry to hear about your relatives' stance on gun ownership. Do you have any idea if they're familiar with Nazi Germany's gun laws in the '30s, and the concern Hitler took to make sure Jews were among the first to be 'legally' denied guns? (I ask in seriousness.)