You're still talking in abstract terms though. You're arguing that if we accept more limits on the right to bear arms, it would somehow make us "lose our edge,"

You're still talking in abstract terms though. You're arguing that if we accept more limits on the right to bear arms, it would somehow make us "lose our edge," but you haven't explained how or why you expect that to occur. I want to know in concrete terms what great benefits we're getting from the current state of gun regulation and how it outweighs what you aptly called "the societal costs of gun violence."