An accelerated erosion of Liberty and Justice is occurring in America. As far as I can tell, nearly all of it began early last century (1913) with the installment of federal income tax and the congressional boondoggle known as The Federal Reserve Act. These tools of plunder are now well accepted by the people. It is evidence that congress has nearly completed the total annihilation of freedom in America. And the disarming of American citizens is moving forward as the insalubrious pool of anti-gun legislation continues to grow unabated. Pity.

What does income tax and federal reserve banking have to do with the government trampling your natural right to defend yourself and your property? Well, money is power.  As the government seizes more of your money, it seizes more of your power. All the while making itself more powerful. When Congress wrongfully empowered itself to tax our income, we became, to an extent, slaves of the state. Income tax mandates, as most usurpations of civil power and right, started out relatively innocuously. Only a tiny portion of the population was liable. This minority had to pay a 1% tax  on income between 800k and1.2 million dollars (adjusted for inflation). It was a graduated tax with the top bracket being 6% for all income over 8 million dollars (again adjusted). 

While this was a tiny tax by today's standards, it fattened the federal coffers immensely. Just six years after income tax became an accepted practice, Congress, with an (un)healthy increase in available money (power), embarked on a mission to kill alcohol trade in America. They also got us involved in the first world war -- we had been considered the "great neutral" up until then.  

With prohibition being the new "law of the land", enterprising "criminals" and gangs took control of the alcohol market. And what did the prohibitionists expect? Complete abstinence? What were they thinking?

Operating outside the law, these gangs often became violent to protect their interests. To combat the violence and corruption that prohibition created, federal police agencies were composed, and the federal government got into the business of regulating arms as well. Although  prohibition was later repealed, the federal police agencies that were created from it are still here, and they are much more sinister & powerful. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) is a prime example.  The massacre at Waco showed us that despotic government agencies won't hesitate to burn down an occupied church if they think that someone inside might be violating their beloved anti-gun legislation. 

The belief that Congress is (or should be) empowered to restrict gun ownership, and that Congress is empowered to declare honest gun owners/buyers/sellers criminal by virtue of passing gun legislation, is wrong. Very wrong. The classification & punishment of citizen crime is not a subject that should be under the jurisdiction of a legislative or executive branch. It must be a function of a judicial body. That is, if justice is a concern to anyone. Tyrants care naught for justice. Congress now recognizes no limits, no boundaries anymore. It acts as if it were all-powerful. This feigned omnipotence is a classic signature of a despotic government.

Without a clear separation of powers between the branches of government, tyranny becomes the order of the day. Make no mistake about it. Congress has successfully usurped nearly all judicial authority on the subject of public crimes. The unconstitutional crime bills (of attainder) that congress routinely installs are saturated with language that encourages one to believe that it is the judge, jury, and executioner; the final arbiter on all matters. They not only have the audacity to declare lawful (no tort involved)  things criminal (like possession of weapons of self-defense), they are now prescribing mandatory sentences as well. This is a dangerous condition that needs to be addressed. 

"[A very capital defect in a constitution is when] all the powers of government, legislative, executive and judiciary result to the legislative body. The concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as oppressive as one." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIII, 1782. ME 2:162

People have a God-given Common Law right (or natural right if you prefer)  to protect themselves from aggression/oppression. This can never be rightfully seized by anyone. Politicians and legislative statutes notwithstanding.  Government must recognize the  inalienable right of the people (persons) to keep weapons for self-defense. It is an absolutely necessity for the preservation of peace, liberty, and justice. The right of self-defense is inherent in every person. All rights are an inseparable part of the human condition. Any right that an individual posses can also be used collectively by a group individuals. But here is where the confusion lies and people must understand: There are no collective or group rights that do not originate from the individual.

If I wrongfully shoot at someone, he has a right to disarm me (or shoot back). He can employ the collective force of a group to do the same on the condition that I am attacking his person (or  in some cases his property). But if you're a fellow American, a legislator, or an executive agent; you have no right take my liberty or disarm me simply because you (or your supporters/constituents) fear my guns. Sorry. That's not good enough. And who fears guns more than tyrants?  

There are good people who fear guns, but sometimes they get their fears and opinions confused with their (collective) right to use force. They want to employ government agents to impose their opinions (the disarming of peaceful of citizens) by using the very things they fear -- guns! Why are they so trusting of government executive branch minions? These  people believe that the government should have a monopoly on the possession and use of firearms. And widespread acceptance of this "opinion" is  the opiate of criminals, tyrants, and thugs. 

If I have no right or power to defend my person, I have no freedom, and neither do you.