The archetypical American is the pioneer, lured into the deep forest. American culture has not allowed the gun to become a vestige, an appendix affixed to our civic body. The gun maintains its status as a talisman, an object imbued with magical powers, to protect the individual for whom it is made. But the L.A. Freeway is not the Oregon Trail, regardless of what Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cena or Grand Theft Auto would have us imagine.