Those who deny the ownership of arms by the peaceful render them victims to the violent; indeed, such deniers stand firmly with the violent who will not only come for the peaceful who can no longer resist, but eventually those who enabled their predation. This is a losing strategy. It empowers evil and weakens good. Who would do such a thing? Stupidly evil people. That’s who. Those who cannot recognize the inevitability of consequences.
Putting that another way, denying things to good people because of the abuse of those things by the evil does nothing to prevent evil. Preventing evil has nothing to do with making good vulnerable to evil. It has everything to do with stopping those who perpetrate evil.
To go one step further: there is no clearer sign of tyranny than when the tyrant denies your right to self defense. At that point you become a victim of the tyrant. The only question is, how much more of a victim will you become? The tyrant cares not for your safety, yet often benefits from the facile appearance of good. Enrobed in the appearance of good — by which many are persuaded — the tyrant always perpetrates greater and greater evil. Right now, that’s incremental oppression.
You are living through this. I’m sorry.
The solution is better leadership. Sometimes that means tossing out bad ones and electing good ones. Sometimes that means picking up the mantle of leadership yourself.
Putting that another way, denying things to good people because of the abuse of those things by the evil does nothing to prevent evil. Preventing evil has nothing to do with making good vulnerable to evil. It has everything to do with stopping those who perpetrate evil.
To go one step further: there is no clearer sign of tyranny than when the tyrant denies your right to self defense. At that point you become a victim of the tyrant. The only question is, how much more of a victim will you become? The tyrant cares not for your safety, yet often benefits from the facile appearance of good. Enrobed in the appearance of good — by which many are persuaded — the tyrant always perpetrates greater and greater evil. Right now, that’s incremental oppression.
You are living through this. I’m sorry.
The solution is better leadership. Sometimes that means tossing out bad ones and electing good ones. Sometimes that means picking up the mantle of leadership yourself.