An alternative to gun control?

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As I read of the events of today's shooting at Virginia Tech, I couldn't help but think that supporters of gun control would have further ammunition (pun intended!) to support their cause. No doubt, we soon will be hearing the old refrain calling for the banning of all firearms - for our own good. I'll refrain from repeating the most common arguments from either side. If you've read this far, you're undoubtably already familiar with them anyway. What I'd like to do is introduce this idea...what if instead of NOBODY owning guns, EVERYBODY owned and carried guns? In his book "Beyond This Horizon", author Robert A. Heinlein creates just such a society. A quote from the book which neatly sums up the premise is as follows: "An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." Essentially, if everyone was potentially carrying a weapon and each individual might be immediately held accountable for his or her actions, the interactions between people in that society would necessarily be more civil as a result. How many people would be willing to walk into a bank with the intention of robbing it if they knew that each teller, each manager, each and every person waiting in line in the lobby might not only have a gun, but be perfectly justified in using it to stop the crime from taking place? How many thugs would think twice about mugging some old lady if they knew that she (or other passerbys) might be carrying a weapon? One might think that this system breaks down rather rapidly in cases where the bad guy has already decided to kill himself after doing his damage. To some extent that's true. However, how many fewer people would have died in the Virginia Tech tragedy if a dozen or so armed people nearby had reacted within 30 seconds of the first victim being shot? Keep in mind that I'm not advocating this. I realize that in the real world, we could never change over to this type of system without a massive shift in our fundamental mind-set. I offer this merely as a thought experiment. Please feel free to chime in on either side of the issue. If you were starting a society from scratch, how would you handle the issue? All I ask is that you refrain from regurgitating the same tired old "party lines" - no matter which "party" you represent.