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It's because of the American separatist mentality. Your average gun toting, freedom loving American sees the world through a very polarizing lens. Not long ago, I read the book American Sniper by Chris Kyle [1], about a Navy SEAL who is the most successful American sniper of all times. The good guy/bad guy dichotomy is very apparent throughout the book. He claims his life's priorities are "God, Country, Family", in that particular order. Reading this can be a bit uncomfortable to a liberal minded individual. And when Chris Kyle fought and killed all those insurgents, I have no doubt he was doing it in the name of freedom; but the freedom he was seeking was freedom from Muslims.

A person like this - and his viewpoint is not alien or even radical in America - sees the USA as a nearly sole force of good, the home of the free and enlightened. Logically, someone like that would not wish to place limits on the military capabilities of the USA, as he still sees the world in a confrontational light.

Put simply, a large part of the American public sees the world in a confrontational way and doesn't wish to reign the military capability of their government.

Under the ideas of capitalism, gun rights and the constitution, such Americans feel they are serving an enlightened, balanced mechanism, and they want it to go on.

TL;DR Americans want freedom from you; they take the freedom from their government for granted.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kyle