The view that guns keep us free from government tyranny is insane. The Confederacy was well-armed but defeated by the hated Federal government. Well-armed citizens did everything they could to stop the freedom train time and again. This is a loony delusion, a mass-insanity. That said, revel in your rights. Buy all the fucking guns and ammo you want. Piss away your money on weapons. You won’t feel safe enough or freer, and you never will. Such is madness.

E.J. Dionne Jr. – Violent talk blocks sane gun laws

I came to realize, partly from e-mail exchanges with ardent foes of gun control over the years, that the real passion for a let-anything-go approach to guns has little to do with culture or hunting. It is rooted in a very peculiar view of how America has maintained its freedom. Rep. Ron Paul, as is his wont, expressed it as plainly as anyone.

"The Second Amendment is not about hunting deer or keeping a pistol in your nightstand," the Texas Republican declared in 2006. "It is not about protecting oneself against common criminals. It is about preventing tyranny. The Founders knew that unarmed citizens would never be able to overthrow a tyrannical government as they did. . . . The muskets they used against the British army were the assault rifles of that time."

And at a Washington rally last year on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) linked this view to the current occupant of the White House.

"Fellow patriots, we have a lot of domestic enemies of the Constitution, and they’re right down the Mall, in the Congress of the United States – and right down Independence Avenue in the White House that belongs to us," he declared. "It’s not about my ability to hunt, which I love to do. It’s not about the ability for me to protect my family and my property against criminals, which we have the right to do. But it’s all about us protecting ourselves from a tyrannical government of the United States."

E.J. Dionne Jr. – Violent talk blocks sane gun laws