2 ms·
This is a weird choice to present the reader, as it can only tell you which freedom is more critical, not whether they are of similar form (and, FWIW, they are
by saurik 6y ago
This is a weird choice to present the reader, as it can only tell you which freedom is more critical, not whether they are of similar form (and, FWIW, they are at least so clearly related that the United States regulates encryption largely as part of arms regulations and treaties).
- skissane 6y agoEncryption seems directly related to freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and privacy rights, in a way which gun ownership issues are not. Encryption directly protects your freedom of thought by making it possible to communicate your thoughts to others without the government being aware of them, hence making it difficult for the government to punish you for sharing those thoughts if it disapproves of them. Owning a gun doesn't directly protect your freedom of thought. Maybe you could argue that a gun can indirectly protect your freedom of thought, since if the government tries to restrict your freedom of thought, you can respond by violently overthrowing the government using your gun. However, in practice, that is very unlikely to work – an attempt to use your gun to violently overthrow the government is far more likely to result in your own death (or spending the rest of your life in prison) than in any actual change in the government or its behaviour. Even if you had a million fellow citizens with their own guns supporting you, you'd still struggle to win against the tanks, fighter jets, bombers, drones, missiles, etc, of a modern military.