Despite the unhappy result for insurrectionists at Appomattox, the Second Amendment exists to intimidate the government into good behavior and, yes, to be used to shoot the government in extreme instances of bad behavior. My right to bear arms does not turn on my need to defend myself against a home intruder, a mugger on the street, or even a crazed Muslim terrorists in my place of work, my Second Amendment rights come to me, like all of my essential rights, from God, and are not subject to be withdrawn by an entity which did not in the first place grant them. This right is ultimately available to me to defend liberty.
The same government that wants to destroy the First Amendment by prosecuting speech concerning Muslims wants to destroy the Second Amendment. The two must be seen to be linked. I have the right of free speech to advocate my Second Amendment rights and I have my Second Amendment rights to intimidate the government into refraining from censoring speech, contrary to the First Amendment. One is indispensable to the other.
