Bears

The right to bear arms is not just an idea of the Age of Enlightenment.  It is a natural right, one of a free people which was only previously held by the aristocracy and nobility.  The American founding fathers were wise enough to enshrine that right into their supreme law to protect the people from the rulers.  It is a civil liberty that is won only through revolution.  And, it will be lost due to fear and ignorance on the behalf of people that don't understand the true nature of those who are the perpetrators of gun crimes.  The infringement of that right--the right of a free people to bear arms--is the harbinger of a people who are not to be free.

Post Script:  There have been a lot of powerful and influential people that have spoken for and against that natural right, Mao, Hitler, Jefferson.  But nobody perhaps stated the important relationship as well as Machiavelli when he said that, "When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred."