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As Phil and I have noted, we’re doing a series of radio interviews to promote “The Total Gun Manual” which, I understand, may get us a Nobel Prize. (If Barack Obama can get a Nobel for doing absolutely nothing, why shouldn’t we collect one for putting out the greatest gun book ever written?) Most of the talk-show hosts I’ve encountered have been completely ignorant about guns, and admitted it, and did good interviews. However, along the way I’ve gotten some odd questions, and a couple of hostile ones. Some examples:

Have I ever shot anyone? (No, just unlucky I guess.)

Am I armed, right now, this minute? (No. The most dangerous thing in the vicinity is the cat, who is in his morning coma.)

Are you going to shoot us? (No, you’re in another part of the U.S., and way out of rifle range.)

My favorite, though, was: “What if you get crosswise of someone who has road rage and a gun?”

I answered: “The odds on tangling with someone in a car who’s heeled and has road rage are about the same as getting hit by a meteor. But I can guarantee you that before this day is out, both you and I are going to see at least one person who’s driving and texting for all they’re worth, or talking into their cell, or staring at the GPS on the dash, all of which are a lot more dangerous than packing a gun.”

I got a driver’s license and started shooting in organized competition within a year of each other. I’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles and spent who knows how much time at shooting ranges, and hunting. In all that time I’ve never seen anyone shot. However, I have seen two fatal highway accidents that had just taken place, and several more where the cops were cleaning up the mess.

If you act like a jerk on the road, the odds on your being caught are pretty small. But if you act like a jerk at a shooting range, or on a hunt, someone is going to speak to you right away, or tell you to leave now. Or, if you’re enough of a jerk, they’ll call the police themselves.

Talking about guns conjures up the paranoid fantasies of those who don’t like firearms in the hands of the public. If these people would like to see the real threat to their lives, however, I suggest they look in their garages.