Why Guns Are Good

Transforming independent individuals into slaves requires extensive indoctrination. The way they view life, the world, and themselves must be molded into an outlook that is compatible with tyranny.
They must be trained to be scared of the world, and always to be seeking some “authority” to protect and take care of them.
Whenever a problem arises, they should look to their rulers for the solution rather than taking it upon themselves to fix it.

One of the main problems that the peasants must be trained not to deal with themselves is violent conflict. It is imperative that they view you (and your enforcers) as the only protection against robbery, assault, and murder. In short, they must be indoctrinated in such a way that they do not even want to be able to defend themselves. The reason is simple: if the peasants feel capable and entitled to “enforce justice” themselves, they might just decide to enforce a little justice against you. And that obviously won’t do.

They must be trained to give up their belief in their right to defend themselves, which is not an easy thing to do. You must attack “peasant justice” in any ways you can think of, such as: 1)
“Vigilante justice can never be as just or fair as our system”; 2)
“You can’t possibly protect yourselves; let us do it”; 3) “If you have a gun, you’ll only hurt yourself”; 4) “If the peasants were allowed to use force, there would be chaos”; 5) “Private protection agencies would just deteriorate into competing gangs of thugs”; and so on. Often privately-enforced justice is referred to as the people “taking the law into their own hands,” which reinforces the idea that only enforcers of “the law” should ever use force, and of course the lowly peasants can’t be allowed to do that.

The point requires a lot of indoctrination because it is so contrary to the instinct every creature has to defend itself and its pack. A few samples of past attitudes show how far the U.S. empire has come in training its citizens to loathe the idea of having to defend themselves.

“The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property.” [Thomas Paine]

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. ... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” [Thomas Jefferson]

Even when it came to defending against foreign invasion, the founders of the United States of America abhorred the idea of a
“standing army,” and preferred instead an armed (and trained) citizen “militia.”

“A well regulated militia, composed of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.” [James
Madison]

“[T]o preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.” [Richard Henry Lee]

Even worse, a mere couple of centuries ago, even well-educated, respected individuals spoke openly about the possibility of the common folk using violence against their own rulers.

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in
America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.” [Noah Webster]

“[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow citizens.” [Alexander Hamilton]

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.” [Patrick Henry]

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” [Thomas Jefferson]

Needless to say, that is an idea that you must rip out of the minds of your subjects at all costs. The common folk should not view themselves as justified even in fending off a common crook by force, much less fending off a foreign invader, or fending off you and your thugs. The revolutionary concept of a “militia,” consisting of the people in general, which stands ready to forcibly resist tyranny even from their own “government,” must be removed by any means necessary from the realm of possibilities in the minds of the peasants.