If there’s one thing liberals hate it’s guns, however this fear is misplaced. It is quite true that America has a gun problem in comparison with other countries. Common sense gun laws seem logical to reducing this problem, and they most certainly would. But at what cost?

The danger imposed by an increasingly authoritarive govermnet is much more a threat to personal liberty than having an armed population. Now chances are that the govermeny isn’t going to become tyrannical and such actions will not be necessary. However it remains entirely within the realm of possibility- and the first step towards totalitarianism is to disarm and ban firearms. 

“All political power grows out the barrel of a gun. You register and ban the firearms before the slaughter” -Mao Tse Tung. I of course remain highly critical of Mao, however in this regard he is right. Ultimately political power comes down to your capability to protect yourself and your liberty. When a goverment takes away your right to own a firearm it takes away your right to defend yourself against a government which turns totalitarian- a right guarenteed by the constitution no less. 

Some would argue that it is ‘barbaric’ or ‘outdated’ that common people should have access to military grade weapons. Indeed these weapons have killed a lot of innocent people, but the right to bear arms is not based in the right of mere self defense or to hunt but to overthrow a tryannical government. It is the right for the common people to take power into their own hands as a democratic decision among themselves if and when the government no longer follows it’s own laws and turns into a tyranny. For such a right the people cannot fight against a fascist military or fascist police state with pistols and pepper spray.

This is of course only the case if the government becomes tyrannical. Some liberals say that ‘it’s the 21st century’ and that this would never happen. Such was the saying in Nazi Germany. Now we live in the age of mass surveillance, in the age of risig right-wing nationalism and authroitarianism which eerily mirrors the fascist uprising of the 20th century. Now is the time of monsters, not of peace. The common people must be armed and willing to protect themselves if history demands it. Not just in the United States but all over the world.

It is the working class which makes up the oppressed class in our society, and it is the workers who will be most oppressed if such terrible events ever do take place. “Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; Any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary.” -Karl Marx. Marx understood this more than most. Indeed if the state ever violated the constitution and tried to disarm the population by raiding homes for guns and ammunition the people must take up arms and all vow to use force if necessary. Such an action would threaten revolution, and the state would be forced to listen to the will of te people.

Decreasing gun violence is important, but it would be insane to say it is more important than preserving personal liberty from an unknown future. We don’t know what the future holds, and it only makes sense for the people to be prepared for anything.