Gun-rights advocates also make the grandiose claim that gun ownership is a deterrent against tyrannical governments. Indeed, the wording of the Second Amendment makes this point explicitly: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” That may have made sense in the 1770s, when breech-loading flintlock muskets were the primary weapons tyrants used to conquer other peoples and subdue their own citizens who could, in turn, equalize the power equation by arming themselves with equivalent firepower. But that is no longer true.
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If you think stock piling firearms from the local Guns and Guitars store, where the Las Vegas shooter purchased some of his many weapons, and dressing up in camouflage and body armor is going to protect you from an American military capable of delivering tanks and armored vehicles full Navy SEALs to your door, you’re delusional. The tragic incidents at Ruby Ridge, in Idaho, and Waco, Tex., in the 1990s, in which citizens armed to the teeth collided with government agencies and lost badly, is a case study for what would happen were the citizenry to rise up in violence against the state today.
There’s no question that tyrannical states have abused the freedom of their citizens. But it is no longer realistic to think that arming citizens to the teeth is going to stop tyranny should it arise. Far superior are nonviolent democratic checks and balances on power, constitutional guardians of civil rights and legal protections of liberties.
"A disarmed population is a compliant population. A population that can't say what it thinks is a population that is much easier to control. And that's the whole reason we have the 1st and 2nd amendment so that we remain a free people."
Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday called the White House "an adult day care center" after President Trump attacked him in a morning Twitter tirade.
Trump alleged in a trio of tweets that Corker "begged" him for his endorsement, did not receive it and decided to retire because he "didn't have the guts" to run for reelection next year.
In response, Corker (Tenn.) tweeted, "It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning."
...
One source familiar with Trump and Corker's recent conversations disputed each of the claims the president made in his tweets. Trump called Corker early last week and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection, according to this source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the private conversations. This source said the president also reaffirmed that he would have endorsed Corker had he decided to seek reelection — which, this source added, was not the first time that Trump had extended such an offer of support.
I couldn’t have said this better