As the debate between gun right advocates and those for regulation wages on I feel there is one false statement that never gets challenged. And that is that in this day and age that the only thing stopping out government from taking our freedoms is that the people are armed. This shows a huge lack of respect for reality that I can no longer let linger on. The first huge issue I take with these so called patriots, that are cleaning their guns as we speak, is where are they? They’re supposed to defend our freedoms so where are they everyday when real americans are having their civil liberites stripped from them. Execution of U.S. citicens without due process. Bradley manning and countless others being held without trial. Warentless wire tapping and other NDAA issues, and the list goes on. If the right to bear arms only protects the right to bear arms what use is it? The truth is our freedoms are easily taken away without firing a single shot and it is the failure of the media which leads to ignorant citicens who can’t make informed decisions. The second issue, if you ignore the above mentioned problems and imagine a world where the government comes to round you up and take your guns from your house, how do you plan on stopping them? We are constantly told that gun owners are armed and ready to lead the resistance, but against who? The U.S. armed forces? I can’t imagine the military turning on it’s own population but even if you can imagine that happening, how are assault rifles of any type supposed to match up against drones,tanks, F-22, Night-visions sharks with laser beams, ok i got carried away but seriously there has never been a greater military strength in history and were supposed to just overthrow them at will. I’m all for a good underdog story but there has to be a better way. Perhaps this is why the founders refer to a states right to have a well regulated militia through out most of their writings. The idea is that having each state with similar military capability would not only prevent a National standing military from being abused on it’s own people, but it would also make it harder to wage useless personal wars *cough”Iraq” *cough. I think I have made my point clear that while handguns can stop a robber and a rifle can stop a deer, only a well informed population and decentralized military can stop a tyrant.