"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands..." Yes, let's return to being a Republic, starting by getting the Socialists (Democrats) out of office. Get rid of the Republicans too. That leaves Libertarians, Constitutionalists, etc." yes, because control of who can be in office is a VERY American ideal, also America is technicaly a Democratic-Republic, a Republic because we have people who represent groups as leaders, a democratic part because we vote for them, one man, one vote.

Most of the above are wrong, taking this in the sense of gun control is far to narrow a scope to view this quote as, you will only understand the true meaning upon reading it several times. I will parapharse the text into modern english. God forbid we go 20 years without a [large national] protest. The entire public cannot be well informed at all times on all subjects. The part of the public which has the facts wrong will be angry. And their amount of angriness will be more if the facts they get wrong are more important to an america.If they do not voice their concerns (even if they are mis-informed of the facts) it is lazyness, which is the precursor of the death of liberty. And what nation can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned that the people will, from time to time, rebel against the government. Let them rebel. The solution to bring peace once more is to inform those that have misconceptions of the facts of the situation, Not to jail or punish them, but to make them happy through words and not force Note, the next section is SATIRE, It is what arrogant rules might say in order to justify killing protesters or quelling a riot. "What significance will 2 or 3 lives have in 200 years?" There must occasionally be riots and protests, and metaphorical and literal lives will be lost, those of patriots and tyrants, in order to preserve Liberty. The significance of this quote is lost on those who claim it is about gun control, it is about much more. It is about how the government MUST allow people to riot and protest, but it must not jail, beat, or torture them, it must calmly inform the minority of the public that do not understand the facts as to what the situation is. This isnt about the people having guns, this is about the people having the right to say what they believe, The right to bear arms is part of this, however claiming that this is about one single issue is a flawed methodology. This could easily be turned around on many gun rights advocates, and conservatives in general, The government after 911 was telling those who protested the war in iraq, or those who are for gun control, that they were unamerican, or by not giving protest permits to them, or by calling those for a public option "Socialists" or "Communists". Of course it could be said that the left is promoting immorality through abortion, or by comparing the whole anti-abortion movement to those few that think it is necessary to shoot an innocent doctor. Spin it how you like, But the meaning of this quote is far to broad to apply to one issue, It is about our society as a whole.