Libertarians, Guns, and the Government's Lack of Fear

Written yesterday and posted to an email forum in response to a "defense of rights" question.

This weekend I had the good fortune of hearing Boston T. Party speak and to spend some time with him at a local gun show as he is a friend of a friend. I sat down, mostly to observe as others with more knowledge about things interacted with him, and learned many things.

I think of those things, the heaviest was his statement on Saturday night. He was in front of a crowd of Libertarian Party of Utah members (all of whom are paying to be at this fund raising dinner at which he was invited to speak). He said, more or less, that he has been speaking to and with libertarians for twelve years. In that time, he has learned that most libertarians are intelligent, many of them own guns, and all of them are pro-gun. However, he said, many libertarians lack the training to really use a gun for anything more than "self defense."

Most libertarians are armed, but most are not dangerous.

While this might seem anathema to libertarian thought (no force, no fraud after all), I have been thinking about it. Especially today, Patriots' Day.

I think he's right.

The government doesn't fear us at all because we are not dangerous. We might have guns, we might even be really good shots, but very few of us have the dedication to our ideals to actually pull the trigger and kill someone because they are infringing on our rights or the rights of others.

I asked myself a hard question. I wondered, if my neighbor were to be surrounded by police, SWAT, FBI, etc., etc...how would I react?

Would I watch, dumbfounded, wondering what he had done to deserve this?

Would I call the local news and see what was going on, turn on the TV and watch it live from the relative safety of my living room, and wonder what he had done to deserve this?

Would I go across the street and push through the cops to run for his door and stand there, arms spread wide, and demand that they show cause for their assault?

Would I pick up a rifle, some ammunition, and open a window to take pot shots at his assailants?

Would I call out my friends to do the same?

What would I do?

To truly preserve and protect our liberties, I think we need to begin to make the government afraid of us...again. They used to be.

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