Also escorted away but not arrested: an armed man at a loud and rancorous town meeting hosted by Representative Steve Cohen of Memphis. Both the armpit guy and the Memphis guy had the required permit to carry a concealed weapon. Kostric did not even have to have a permit since his gun was not concealed, which in New Hampshire makes it completely O.K. This is under the theory that as long as you know that the strange-looking guy waving the big protest sign is packing heat, you can take steps to protect yourself, perhaps such as purchasing a bulletproof vest from a nearby street vendor.

Image Gail Collins Credit... Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

(Actually arrested: Richard Terry Young, 62, in Portsmouth. While Young’s loaded gun was in his parked car, not on his person, the fact that he did not have a license and that police discovered him lurking inside the high school where the president was scheduled to appear later in the day apparently tipped the scales.)

We are getting yet another series of reminders of the vast gun gap in this country. There is the part that thinks a room full of red-faced men and women screaming at one another is the worst place in the world to bring a firearm. And then there is the part that holds it is exactly the place where you need it most.

“A firearm is a defensive tool,” said Kostric, in an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt, and he told Matthews that if everybody in the crowd waiting for Obama to arrive had been armed, things would have been much safer. Beyond an air of mild surprise, he seemed like your average hard-core Ron Paul voter  male, smug and obsessed with the money supply. (“Where did we go wrong? I’d start with the Federal Reserve Bank.”)