Building on what Steyr said, and taking the flip side, Common enemies makes us allies, of sorts.
Remember the United States allied with Communist Russia in World War II.
Two feuding parties or ex opponents can remain allies for as long as it takes to defeat the common enemy. However, for this to happen properly, both parties must realize where and when the common enemy has been defeated.
We have not reached that point.
We have an apparently progun president, the political climate seems to be in our favor, the Brady Bunch are unpopular people, and the enemy of terrorism has changed many people's minds, even if only out of necessity.
There are cracks showing, however. While I have not followed up on this issue, it seems the only people wanting pilots armed...are the pilots themselves. The Powers-That-Be are opposed to this idea, siding with Sarah Brady.
Everybody is still scared of "guns in the wrong hands" and blindly reacting to the threats they are shown by the media.
Sarah and the Million Mom March announced sometime back that they would be quietly focusing on changing the law at state levels and in localities. I have seen some response to this, but not enough.
People are scared of nonfunctional relic rifles hanging on the wall.
The Multi-head dragon is not dead. It is not even dormant. It is alive, wounded and very angry, and like an injured mother cat guarding her kittens, it waits in the corner. It waits for us to turn our collective backs, and then it will attack...
I hope you who argue the Israel/Palestine issue do not expend ALL of your energy. You will need it.