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Why gun owners can still resist a tyrannical government

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Gun owners aren’t popular with some people. The fact that many of us simply refuse to trust our government to never become tyrannical just doesn’t sit well with them.

Probably because most of them figure they’ll be in charge of the tyranny.

A while back, Rep. Eric Swalwell made headlines when he suggested using nuclear weapons against American citizens.

It seems that now, anti-gun activists have picked up that mantra.

The problem with outlandish threats against law-abiding gun owners is they get repeated.

That’s especially true when gun control groups seize upon careless remarks by President Joe Biden that the U.S. government would consider using actual weapons of war against those who dare to believe the Second Amendment protects the nation against a tyrannical government.

Newtown Action Alliance’s Po Murray tweeted, “A gun rights activist from Newtown told me he needs an AR15 to defend himself from a tyrannical government.

I told him the CIA has drones with missiles. Hellfire R9X/“knife bomb”/“flying Ginsu” was used to kill al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri.”

The irony here is rich. An antigun activist that wants to disarm law-abiding citizens for exercising their right to keep and bear arms is repeating a threat of lethal force – and – comparing those gun owners to international radical terrorists.

She attempted to clarify her tweet with another three days later tweeting, “Let me be clear. The government is not coming for you with a drone.”

Then why bring it up?

Look, I get that the US military has a lot bigger and better weapon systems than we do. However, that isn’t really a winning argument with regard to fighting off tyranny. I mean, it’s basically, “You don’t need guns because you can’t win.”

Sorry?

Sometimes, just putting up a fight is the win. Just drawing a line in the sand and making it clear that going beyond it will warrant a response, then living up to that, is enough.

Just knowing you can’t create a tyrannical state without starting a war is more than ample reason to not do it for many. Especially since those who put us in such a state will be considered high-priority targets.

Further, it’s almost adorable how often these people seem to think the United States military will universally side with them. It won’t.

Oh, I suspect many will. They’ll follow orders even if they’re sympathetic to the other side’s cause.

Others will be driven by their conscience to a greater degree and will fight against the tyranny. They’ll bring weapon systems with them, creating a far more level playing field than Murray, Swalwell, and even President Joe Biden can imagine.

Yet even if they don’t, these folks would be surprised to learn just how effective an army of gun owners could be. Sure, they’re unlikely to take down drones, but drones didn’t stop the Taliban from retaking Afghanistan. We had plenty of problems with Islamic extremists in places like Iraq and Afghanistan despite having all these advanced weapon systems.

In the process, it showed just how vulnerable our military actually is to a low-tech force.

Do these people really think the average American hasn’t watched and learned? What about all those veterans who saw this all first-hand? Do you think they’d just forget?

Look, I don’t want a civil war. Such a thing would be bloody and I don’t know that I’d like the nation left standing afterward.

However, I speak for a lot of my fellow gun owners when I say we prefer that to the alternative; a totalitarian state where people are left unable to defend themselves.

As a friend of mine put it, the AR-15 isn’t a weapon of war, but if you try to take them, they’ll become one quickly enough.

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