Guns will protect you from tsunamis.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Ibram, the short answer is you won't have a mature nor complete understanding of it until you read Stephen P. Halbrook.

The long answer is the clear and engagingly written text of Halbrook's That Every Man Be Armed: the Evolution of a Constitutional Right. The man's no shifty propagandist; he's the Constitutional lawyer who gutted the Brady Law's more noxious provisions before the US Supreme Court. He's someone to respect and give ear to.

After all, it is the Second Amendment, and no other, that gives teeth to the First. Its intent, and indeed its rather unacknowledged effect, is to give teeth to all of them, Amendments and Constitution alike.

Meanwhile, you might peruse, online, the writing of Don B. Kates and David Kopel. These too are highly sensible men. But don't take my word for it; see for yourself and discuss it.