This is the animating force behind guns in a state Capitol: If you pick up a long gun you’re suddenly a hero in the lineage of Jefferson, a modern-day American revolutionary. In reality, the armed Michigan protesters are the heirs of the benighted Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and the Oklahoma City bomber.
Tree of liberty extremists dwell on the point that this nation took up arms and fought a revolution to rid itself of tyranny. So it did, but in the process, Americans formed a society dedicated to the rule of law, representative government and the peaceful resolution of disputes. The implicit threat of armed protesters — to start shooting if they don’t get their way — is anathema to such a society, and to what the Revolutionary War was all about.
No sound account of the 2nd Amendment justifies the protesters’ assault on bedrock principles of democratic rule. They are neither patriots nor “very good people” but base thugs. The proper response of a civilized democracy is to insist they lay down arms or go to jail.
– Harry Litman in Trump’s latest ‘very good people’ are 2nd Amendment thugs