Don't be so sure that Mr. Conte did not bring up a valid point regarding the psycho-sexual motivations of men who are obsessed with ever more firepower. If we substitute the word 'woman' for the word 'man' in the last sentence of his letter--"an armed woman is a citizen, an unarmed woman is a subject" or how about this--"an armed woman is a citizen, an unarmed man is her subject" and watch the reactions, we can see that sexuality, if not necessarily sexual inadequacy (although it too might play a role) likely does play a role in what is most frequently a heterosexual male obsession. 
"A gun can make a small man feel big. One squeeze of a trigger and bang! blood rushes into bloodless flesh. The spiritually limp become tumescent. Those who are terrified of a world that offers nothing but change are immediately engorged with cheap courage."
https://medium.com/matter/guns-are-the-original-american-impotence-cure-52e07592185a