Who Has Gun Rights ???

Brandon Smith makes the following argument about gun rights:

Though the media often attempts to twist the gun rights debate into a web of complexity, gun rights is in fact a rather simple issue - either you believe that people have an inherent right to self defense, or you don’t. All other arguments are a peripheral distraction.

You can read the rest @
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/mass-shootings-will-never-negate-the-need-for-gun-rights_02232018

Now read the Second Amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Note three things:

1. This is the only time the word "infringed" appears in the US Constitution;
2. The amendment is addressing "the security of a free State" and NOT an individual's right to self-defense; and
3. The US government (through its agent the FBI) has been ruthlessly suppressing independent militias throughout the US for quite some time (starting with Operation PATCON).

In my view, in spite of all the rhetoric it is "our" government which does not want We The People to have firearms. The feds don't want us to have "free States" or the ability to defend ourselves. In this sense, they are in complete agreement with the political philosophy of Max Weber:

According to Weber, the state is that "human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence within a given territory." ... For example, the law might permit individuals to use force in defense of one's self or property, but this right derives from the state's authority.

Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_on_violence

In other words, "our" government is acting as if our rights derive from the state's authority; not as if its powers derived from the consent of the people.

All other arguments are a peripheral distraction.