One of the worst, and ugliest suggestions of the modern-era interpretation of the Second Amendment is that it openly advocates for armed rebellion if you aren't happy with the government.
Of course they don't directly say that, but innuendo is the weapon of sneaky people. Who needs to say it when you can suggest it and let the sheep do your work for you?
As the right-wing pundits consistently portray the democratically elected President, Barack Obama as a "tyrant" on the one hand, and continue to push this false notion of a 2nd Amendment penned to overcome tyranny on the other, it pushes the right ever closer to violence.
This is the awful truth of tyrannical talk; the ones doing the talking are the ones who want to be the tyrants.
The ones who truly seek the "will of the people" seek democracy, not violent ends. I don't speak just hypothetically either. I know real tyranny, I've seen it up close.
I moved to Liberia, West Africa, in 1982. It was shortly after Samuel Kanyon Doe had led a military coup, overthrowing the government by violent means.
There were acts of brutality. The former leaders were paraded around, naked, before being publicly executed on TV.
I later met the granddaughter of the former President. Her father and his family were the only ones who escaped alive.
I encountered tyranny there as I attended high school. Sometimes it was borderline comical. My history teacher, for instance, was pulled over and fined $50 for "attempted speeding." No joke.
Other things weren't at all comical.
I knew another girl, who was from a European nation, whose mother and sister were raped by bayonets and killed by soldiers who were never prosecuted.
Members of my high school newspaper went to visit a journalist, the operator of the Liberian Free Press who was routinely beaten and jailed consistently for printing the truth about the corruption in the government.
There was a fear of the government. Military walked around with guns. Shop owners never knew if they were safe from one day to the next. But sadly, those were the stable days.
One revolution after another followed, after I left. One attempted genocide followed another as age-old tribal conflicts, held check for a century were unfurled.
For the better part of a decade there was no electricity, no running water. Teens armed with assault rifles were the only form of "government" there was.
As soon as one despot was put down, a new tyrant rose to take his place.
Finally, a woman rose up by the name of Ellen Jonson-Sirleaf. She became the first democratically elected female president of any nation in Africa. She did so without violence, without guns. She did so with her words.
Her efforts won her not only a presidency, they won her a Nobel Peace Prize. Of course the thing she really won was a peaceful nation.
There are three things that the right-wing, and those who foolishly, and frankly malevolently toss around the word "tyrant" as though it's just a rhetorical tool for entertainment purposes, need to hear.
First, shame on you. You owe every person who has ever been raped, or beaten or imprisoned, or killed in standing against true tyranny an apology. You lost an election. You want to speak for the people? Then hear what the people said.
Your rhetoric is not just wrong politically. It's evil. It's malicious. And it must stop.
Second, you think that your Second Amendment rights are the foundation. You're wrong. All our rights are upheld by our First Amendment rights. All this silly discussion about the Nazis and the Soviets is nothing more than that, nonsense.
Gun control in Germany came prior to Hitler, and Hitler in fact relaxed gun control laws (though not for the Jews and other groups) Stalin rose to power then destroyed the guns. In both cases what went long before the tyranny started and guns left though was discourse.
Speech trumps arms. The pen is still mightier than the sword, even if it's an AR15. It's far better to change a thousand minds than kill a single soul. If someone is right, let their conviction be in their words, not in their willingness to kill.
Third, violent revolution that rises up against a democratically elected government always ends in tyranny, and tyranny is only ended with true democracy.
Beware of sheep talking tyranny; they want to be the tyrants.
A Semi-revolution By Robert Frost
I advocate a semi-revolution.
The trouble with a total revolution
(Ask any reputable Rosicrucian)
Is that it brings the same class up on top.
Executives of skillful execution
Will therefore plan to go halfway and stop.
Yes, revolutions are the only salves,
But they're one thing that should be done by halves.