[Kleinzeit]

One of the arguments commonly put forward for RTKBA is that an unarmed populace cannot defend itself against a government turned tyrannical. I don’t wish to dispute this.

On the other hand, a succession of recent events has led me to question the capacity of many Americans to actually distinguish between a genuine tyrant and a mere image of one - an image manufactured by some corporate interest disguising itself as a “grassroots movement”, or else dreamt up out of a combination of ignorance and fear of the unknown.

My point is that if someone were to actually assassinate the President tomorrow, it is very likely that it would not be some decent patriot who has made an intelligent, informed assessment of the situation. It would be a misinformed ignoramus who actually believes that it’s possible to be a Nazi and a black supremacist at the same time, or who believes that the President is a robot being programmed by alien Nazi terrorists from inside the Kremlin.

I’m not trying to categorize any particular side of politics as stupid; stupidity cuts across party lines. Things happen to be arranged this way at this point in history, but the point applies irrespective of who is in power.

And the point is that increasing numbers of American people are afraid that the fate of the nation is going to end up in the hands of an armed lunatic. When people are afraid, they do not feel free; and people have a right to defend their freedom. I’m just pointing out the obvious: That freedom is not an absolute, but something that must always be negotiated in a civil society. What makes one person free may inhibit the freedom of the next person in some other way. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that their freedom should be absolute, and don’t care what impact they have on other people. (Such people do not really believe in freedom; such people are just greedy.) And when these people pick up guns and start muttering dangerously about the President, they have a genuine impact on the freedom of ordinary Americans to live without fear of catastrophe.

So what I’m saying is: The continued freedom of gun owners is inextricably caught up in public perception, and at this point in history, a significant number of Americans are afraid of paranoid, misinformed, angry people with guns.

So my question is: Why shouldn’t they be? And what are we going to do about it?

And please: No replies that try to turn this into Right vs. Left, or say stuff like, “It’s the government people should be afraid of!” That isn’t a conversation we are going to have here.