People have the unfettered right to own and possess guns and other weapons. That is what private property is all about. It is also what the right of self-defense is all about. People have the right to defend themselves from murderers, rapists, robbers, and anyone else who initiates force against them.

Equally important, people have the right to defend themselves from the tyranny of their own government. That’s what our ancestors had in mind when they enacted the Second Amendment.

There are those who maintain that the concept of resistance to tyranny is quaint and outmoded. They say that there is no reasonable possibility that the federal government would ever engage in tyrannical action against its own citizens, especially since the federal government is a “democracy.”

Yet, it is undisputed that U.S. national-security state officials have installed into power, trained, and partnered with some of the most brutal and tyrannical regimes in history. It is a short step to go from supporting tyranny to engaging in it.

Moreover, we mustn’t forget that ever since the U.S. government was converted into a national-security state after World War II, U.S. officials have wielded and exercised such totalitarian powers as indefinite detention, torture, secret surveillance, and assassination, including against Americans, with the approval of the judicial branch of the federal government.

The cartridge box is a more effective way to preserve freedom than the soap box, ballot box, and jury box. If the American people ever permit federal officials to confiscate their guns, it is a mistake that tyrannical officials will never permit them to make again.