This morning I went to the Fort Wayne Gun & Knife show at the coliseum. I collect knives and bayonets. The G&K show comes around every three months, but I've only gone twice--once in January 2005, and now today. My nephew, Benjamin, was going to come with me (he also collects knives), but ended up having to work. So I went alone.

I parked my truck amidst a forest of macho pickups and SUVs and headed toward the entrance behind a fellow wearing a camoflauge jacket and carrying a big rifle on a strap over his shoulder. Context is everything. I imagined if we were headed toward the entrance of a school. Or an airport.

I looked at a lot of the guns and thought, "It's legal to buy that?" Perhaps some full-auto features are disabled, I don't know. The place was a Jack Bauer paradise. It gave me some comfort knowing that if the US were invaded, lots of my neighbors are very heavily armed. Maybe I could borrow somebody's AK-47 or set-up their 30-calibre machine gun on my rooftop amidst sandbags.