[BlueTrain]

I don't think there is ever any principle operating whereby government has a contract with the people. That just makes no sense. There may be obligations, often unwritten, but there is no contract. Likewise, government may not necessarily exist for the benefit of the people, although things work better that way. Personally, I think that the weaker the government is, the weaker the country is. Many current policies happen to weaken the country as a while even while they may be benefiting certain groups of people. Many contentious issues have no bearing at all on most people's lives.

While I can understand people's feelings about firearms, I have trouble believing that people deny that people, including themselves, have a right to self defense, or to put it another way, that people will not defend themselves. I also have trouble believing that you will be prosecuted for defending yourself, although the devil is in the details.

In many current cases, I am reminded again that things would be better if we could keep good people from shooting other good people. We assume that the bad (and the rich) we will always have.