Don, you may not like hearing this but what is happening Stateside now is similar to what happened in Australia after the 1996 Port Arthur 'Massacre.' Thirty-six people were shot by a lone nutcase with an AR-15. All gunowners were held collectively responsible for that crime in the same way most Freepers hold all Muslims responsible for 911. The media kept churning Port Arthur for ratings, keeping the public in a constant state of worry and fear. State and federal governments used it as a pretext to bring in repressive and interventionist legislation against gunowners; including, 'dob in an (illegal) gunowner' schemes, one of which is currently underway. It is only recently that people are starting to question the hysteria, in light of statistics showing that Australlian crime figures have gone up, not down. The problem you have is that people tie their egos into a rigid stance, as we have seen on this thread. As it steadily becomes obvious that they have in reality backed a huge increase in the power of the State apparatus, a development directly at odds with the core principles of FR, they refuse to change their position. Of course there are more than a few posters here who want to see an increase in the power of the State to intrude- my guess is they somehow personally benefit from advocating that.
What is so strange about an out of control government on the brink of bankruptcy and failure passing legislation that will help protect those in government from the angry mobs of citizens who might wish to behead them? Our government is in a melt-down panic mode and doing everything it can to stave off the inevitable. The anger of it's betrayed and starving citizens. It isn't too far off judging by the amount of controls and the speed with which they are trying to implement them.