AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File

Today is Independence Day, a day when we remember who we are as a nation and what we stand for.

OK, most people just cookout and watch things explode in the sky, but some of us tend to think about the important stuff as well. You know what I mean, things like the right to keep and bear arms (naturally) and freedom of speech.

However, it seems at least one lawmaker was pretty outspoken about her disregard for the latter.

Democrat Rep. Frederica Wilson (FL) says that people who are “making fun of members of Congress” online “should be prosecuted” pic.twitter.com/f69KwOeJ0n

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 2, 2019

Now, in fairness, Rep. Wilson does go on to talk about people making threats against members of Congress. However, here’s the thing to remember. Making threats against anyone is illegal. Members of Congress don’t deserve special status because they’re part of Congress.

However, she also clearly seems to consider “making fun of members of Congress” as somehow in that same category. I can understand why she’d feel that way, but mostly because she dresses in the most ridiculous manner humanly possible for anyone elected to a national legislature and likely gets made fun of a lot.

But lumping those together isn’t something to be excused, no matter how much fun is made of her and her ridiculous choices of hats in the past.

We, as Americans, have a God-given right to speak freely. That includes mocking members of Congress if we so choose. Trying to take that away undermines one of the most fundamental principles of this great land.

On this side of the political aisle, we don’t take particularly kindly to that sort of thinking.

You see, that’s a slope no one should want to go down. Once you do, the result will be something you will not like. Why? Because once you start restricting speech like anti-gunners have tried restricting guns, there are no other options but armed conflict. People aren’t going to roll over because someone like Wilson expects them to.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have guns. Wilson’s comments betray a willingness to round up and prosecute dissent, something that should be abhorrent to every American.

Further, Wilson is rather hypocritical about this sort of thing. I suspect she has no issue with the mockery directed toward President Trump, for example. Yet f members of Congress are to be so sacrosanct as to be above such mockery, what about the president? Shouldn’t the highest office in the land also be shielded from being made fun of?

Of course, the answer is no. It’s a “no” because no one is above being mocked and ridiculed, no one at all.

If Wilson doesn’t want members of Congress to be ridiculed, then maybe she and her fellow travelers should stop being such inviting targets for such ridicule. Otherwise, grin and bear it like the rest of us do.

To be clear, I’m not justifying threats. Those are a different matter entirely, and everyone should know that. Wilson, for that matter, should know it. Her willingness to lump being made fun of in the same category illustrates nothing more than an attempt to broaden the definition of threats to minimize criticism.

More importantly, her willingness to do that illustrates that she’s willing to do whatever she can to punish those who disagree with her. That’s tyranny, and we have guns to prevent tyranny from taking hold. She’s free to say whatever ridiculous thing she wants while wearing whatever ridiculous hat she wants. If she and her comrades cross the line into action, though, we’re going to have a problem.