"(And by the way...if you don't want to protect yourself, and are not brave enough to protect anyone else when it really matters...you can rest assrued that there are many of us who would protect you...even at the cost of life and limb.)" Where do you get this crap? The US has the highest rate of gun-related crimes in the world, bar none.

Machiaveli wasn't writing about an armed populace - read a little of European history and you'll instantly see kings and potentates regularly desired/enforced an unarmed population. And, again, read the time/context and intent of Machiavelli's works and you'll also see he was writing for prices, kings, potentates, and misc rulers, not for the underclasses. Writing crap in support of the Second Amendment is fine (although misguided), but don't corrupt the meaning of quotes or use partials.