> More so, the reason that gun rights are so fundamental in the US is that they are intended as a key tool to prevent the establishment of tyranny. It's unfort

> More so, the reason that gun rights are so fundamental in the US is that they are intended as a key tool to prevent the establishment of tyranny. It's unfortunate, but I find few people understand this and it warps the gun ownership/control debates. The people's right to be armed is for one purpose only: to preserve the right to revolution. I think gun rights people like to use anecdotes about stopping home intruders and whatnot -- and that stuff is nice -- but that's all secondary. > It's easy to write that off as some outlandish idea, or as some preposterous hypothetical but that ignores the lessons of history. I think this is the major stumbling block when I try to explain why gun rights are important. In our time tyranny seems distant. When it happens, it's somewhere else, somebody else. I've sort of resigned myself to seeing the United States slip into tighter and tighter gun control. Then in November of 2064 or something the president will call off elections and declare himself emperor of the world as all us greybeards hang our heads and say we told you so.