OPINION | This article contains political commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

This is a perfect example of why many conservative Americans are hesitant about red flag laws.

A little context: On Thursday, Beto O’Rourke attended CNN’s Equality Town Hall, where he supported removing the tax-exempt status of churches, schools, and charities that don’t fully support the LGBTQ movement.

Beto O’Rourke on religious institutions losing tax-exempt status for opposing same-sex marriage: "There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone … that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us" #EqualityTownHall pic.twitter.com/tjwVGqv5h0 — CNN (@CNN) October 11, 2019

Ben Shapiro responded on the Friday edition of his podcast:

Ben Shapiro warns that if politicians try to mandate LGBTQ 'indoctrination' at all schools, then he will "pick up a gun." Further adding "Beto O'Rourke does not get to raise my child. And if he tries, I will meet him at the door with a gun" pic.twitter.com/Hq7SyF7FeI — Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) October 11, 2019

Ben is right: it’s not the government’s job to educate indoctrinate our children. The role of government – specifically, the role of the U.S. government as outlined by the Founding Fathers – is to protect the rights of individuals. That includes freedom of religion: we each have the right to freely practice the religion of our choice and to educate our children in our own values. That’s the First Amendment. And if the government decides to stomp all over that freedom, we have the right – I’d argue we have a responsibility – to take up arms and fight for our rights. That’s the Second Amendment.

Personally, I don’t find anything extreme or even concerning about Ben’s statement.

The left, of course, disagrees. Most of the responses on Twitter are negative, ad hominem attacks on Shapiro (because they don’t have a better argument than “conservative man mean”). Some, including Representative Eric Swalwell, claim Ben is inciting violence and should lose his gun rights:

A person vowing to defend their individual rights is not a valid reason to remove that person’s gun rights. In fact, it’s exactly the reason we have gun rights in the first place. I don’t support violence unless absolutely necessary (and Ben doesn’t either), but we absolutely have a right and responsibility to keep the extremist, militant left from running roughshod over the Constitution.

Thoughts?