“As the Founding Fathers knew well, a government that does not trust its honest, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens with the means of self-defense is not itself worthy of trust. Laws disarming honest citizens proclaim that the government is the master, not the servant, of the people.”

Take that (!), Mr. President.

After Orlando this will be a highly contentious issue - personally I think people should be allowed to protect themselves and their families. What is wrong are the procedures that allow known criminals and terrorist's the same requirements for possessing firearms.. This gunman was interviewed three times by the FBI he was also a transporter of immigrants - my final response to this horrific massacre will be on hold until more information is uncovered..

aaah, yeah? maybe a few caveats of what? Such as, the Founding Fathers created a certain separation between individual and federal (there was a direct vote for congress but after that it dropped off sharply). No sovereign individual paid a tax to the federal government. Overall though, accurate. I do appreciate the presentation of when government disunites itself from 'We The People' to become a separate autonomous master over mere chattel.

Wrong, Robert. Guns are power -- just like a wood chipper. Each have a purpose, but they are dangerous tools. If someone happens to choose to kill someone by throwing them into a wood chipper, we would not then make wood chipper's illegal.

Let's return to the proper definition of crime: an act performed with malicious intent. We cannot criminalize every method used by the malicious -- it would never end. Secondly, all are INNOCENT until proven guilty -- so making laws that prohibit guns on the chance that the person might commit a crime with them is indeed treating people as guilty before they have even committed ANY act.

If YOU personally do not have the right to dictate to your neighbor whether they may possess arms, then your government representatives do not have that right either -- and the federal Constitution and most State constitutions protect the right from government specifically.

As for all this calling for background checks -- more background checks are done now than ever before, but the problem is the background check database is not updated regularly. The real goal is to outlaw guns -- background checks are only to set up the government bureaucracy that will be transformed into enforcing gun prohibition.

Any politician espousing gun prohibition is promoting totalitarianism -- period.

Archer, you obviously didn't read my comment.. I did not say what you think I said.... As usual, misconstruing to fit your own agenda...

No agenda, Robert. How about an intelligent response if I have misunderstood. Sounds to me that you are implying that depending on how horrific a crime might be, the more compelling the argument to empower the state and disempower the individual.

Place blame where it belongs -- with the murderers. The Left will have to come to terms with Islam and Sharia -- they can't be everything to all voters. Stop blaming the NRA or the Right for gun violence, and hold the perpetrators to account for their actions and their motivations. America does not have a gun problem, but it does have an Islamist jihadist problem which the Left has been trying to ignore for too long. The chickens are coming home to roost.