. ."if you've ever had a machine gun pointed at you". .

Your statement really conveyed the feeling because of one encounter I had with a machine gun. While in Berlin my friend and I visited the reconstructed synagogue where Krystallnacht began. It is now a museum. At the entry were four soldiers in uniform, each carrying a machine gun. They were not pointing the guns but just the sight of them sent a chill down my back. Just inside was a huge soldier with a pistol in a holster. In my mind I called him "Big Bruno" but I would never have said anything casual, let alone disrespectful to him.