What are we so afraid ?

I heard yesterday on the news that handgun sales have increased by 10% because people are afraid that once President-elect Obama comes into office, there will be more restrictions. I wonder what we are so afraid of? I wonder if the fear of losing something robs us of the very thing we are trying to protect far more than the actual threat. I look around my own life to see where have I locked myself in to protect what is dear to me, so much so that I have locked out the happiness and peace that I believe the very thing I am protecting will bring me. Course of Miracles has a line that says, "In my defenselessness my safety lies." Or as Janice Joplin puts it, "Freedom is when there's nothing else to lose." Its a revolutionary paradigm shift to let go of the notion that life is something to protect and instead realize that we can't lose anything. When we remember what's eternal and center in God we lose nothing but gain everything.