I was angry, then dismayed, when I learned the U.S. Supreme Court had decided the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of individuals to own guns.

The high court on June 26 struck down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban, a big step in the wrong direction. D.C. banned handguns to help combat crime, and the city of Chicago has had such a ban for more than 25 years. Challenges already have been mounted against Chicago’s law, and surely gun-control laws in other cities, including San Francisco, which bans carrying handguns on any county property, will come under attack.

Law-abiding citizens, the logic goes, should have the right to defend themselves at home. The bad guys, they say, aren’t concerned about the law when obtaining guns. The rest of us, then, should at least have a level playing field.

It sounds logical. But here’s the thing I can’t get past: According to FBI statistics from 2006–the latest year for which figures are available– of the 14,990 murders committed in the United States, 10,177 were by guns. Of those, 7,795 were handguns.

The FBI had no statistics on the number of murder weapons obtained legally or illegally, but it stands to reason that many were legal. That’s what’s scary. I fear the court’s decision will embolden more people to buy guns. Guns that can be stolen, that can be used in crimes, that can be used on a homeowner by a burglar, that can be used in domestic violence disputes, that can be picked up by a toddler or a teen and discharge a fatal round, and that can be bought by people with no training in safety and storage.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) pretty much nailed it after the ruling, saying, “I think it opens this nation to a dramatic lack of safety.”

The day after the decision, I drove out to the Laguna Seca Rifle and Pistol Range, where the topic was on everyone’s mind, and everybody agreed with the court. No one was concerned about more guns ending up on the streets or in criminal hands. And, the target shooters said, should that occur, it would be even more reason for law-abiding citizens to keep guns in their homes.

“It’s a common-sense decision,” says Doug Baribeau of Pacific Grove, a champion target shooter, and member of the National Rifle Association and the California Rifle and Pistol Association. “[The decision] gives clarity on a question that people have been waiting for for a long time… that it is an individual right and that you can defend yourself.”

In Salinas, which has seen 16 murders so far this year, 15 of them gang-related, Police Chief Daniel Ortega says he, too, agrees with the court’s decision.

The ban in D.C. was an overreaction to the violence there, he says, “and because of that the Supreme Court had to rule the way it did. Otherwise, good citizens… would not have the ability to defend ourselves in our own home.”

The chief says he does not think the ruling will result in an escalation of violence, more gang-related killings, or more guns on the street.

“I don’t see a fire sale… in gun stores because of this court decision,” he says.

Still, he notes, criminals often use stolen guns.

“People who purchase guns to protect their own property… I wish they would have them under lock and key so they don’t get stolen,” he says.

Back at Laguna Seca, lifelong shooter George Turner says that while he thinks the court made the right call, he thinks the responsibility that goes with gun ownership is too often ignored.

“It’s way too easy to shoot someone,” says Turner, of Pacific Grove. “A lot of people regret it after they do it. If you don’t have [a gun], then you can’t use it.”

The country should look at why it is so violent and deal with the underlying causes, he says, noting that gun control too often is proffered as a “panacea.”

He says he is more concerned about our loss of civil rights, privacy issues and government wiretapping.

Indeed, those are important issues. But when it comes to guns, I still can’t help but feel uneasy about the future. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said after the ruling, “This is a great moment in American history. It vindicates individual Americans all over this country who have always known that this is their freedom worth protecting… ”

So now I find myself wondering just who among my neighbors, colleagues and friends will feel compelled to get a gun. Smith & Wesson shares rose 8.6 percent the day of the ruling, according to which means investors anticipate a corresponding uptick in sales.May be. But I still feel less safe than I did a week ago. And no, don’t tell me to go buy a gun.