“Self-defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present day,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority last week in a landmark decision striking down Chicago’s strict firearm ban.

Indeed, self defense is about as basic a right as we have in this country, enshrined by the founders in the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

The court’s decision is a victory for law-abiding citizens in places like Chicago, where even the strictest gun laws have failed to curb a mounting toll of gun violence.

Ten people were shot to death and 44 others injured by gunfire in a single weekend last month in Chicago. That’s more than a person per hour hit by a bullet.

The court’s decision is the correct one. Although it will do nothing to solve Chicago’s mounting murder rate, and may even aggravate the problem, law-abiding citizens in fear cannot be denied the means to protect themselves.

But the Supreme Court decision gives rise to three observations:

First, unlike Maine, most people in Chicago do not hunt, have no history of owning guns and probably never thought they would need one.

That people in Chicago are fearful and believe they need a weapon to defend themselves speaks volumes about the breakdown of civil society there.

Second, the rapid increase in gun ownership suggests we are approaching a frightening tipping point.

In a society where more and more people are armed, do more and more people feel the need to own and even carry a weapon?

Twenty years ago, minor traffic arguments didn’t result in people threatening other people with guns. Today, even in Maine, such threats are regularly reported to police departments.

As more people feel threatened by gun owners, who wants to be the defenseless person without one?

While welcome news for the firearms industry and the National Rifle Association, the proliferation of guns is clearly not the road to a more civil society. If it were, Dodge City would have been the safest place in the old West.

Finally, is there any end to the progression of weapons we need to defend ourselves?

In his remarkable book, “Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun,” Geoffrey Canada writes of growing up in the Bronx and seeing, over a period of years, the rules of engagement steadily change.

As the title implies, disputes were once settled with fists. Over time, he saw the Bronx change from a place of relatively harmless fistfights to frequently lethal shootings.

As a young man, he too eventually carried a gun. He talks of how carrying that weapon changed him from a kid who crossed the street to avoid a fight to a young man out looking for one.

Today, we have frightened people buying assault rifles and military sniper rifles to defend themselves. Where does that end? With a rocket propelled grenade launcher in every closet?

Clearly, we all have a right to own and carry guns. But it is very bad news for our society when we do so out of fear for our lives.

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