Rosie O’Donnell can now be pointed to as yet another American who, instead of counting on 9-1-1 for protection against violent crime, ultimately puts her faith in a loaded gun — that no doubt is not encumbered by a trigger lock.

Ms. O’Donnell would probably recoil in horror from a real handgun just as some people do from snakes or spiders. Nonetheless, the bodyguard to whom she entrusts her child on the way to school will, if his application for a carry permit is approved, be “packing”.

The next time one of my more liberal acquaintances drags out the old “but we are a modern society with a police force” argument I can just point to the example set by Ms. O’Donnell.