America's not so great gun debate

A few days after the Parkland shooting, radio host Rush Limbaugh took a revealing call from a gun enthusiast who said the real reason that he and his kind want to own high-powered, high-capacity, semiautomatic rifles is because they want to have as much firepower as the U.S. government -- just in case things go sideways and our leaders turn tyrannical.

I've heard others say the same thing. And it makes me recall Donald Trump's notorious sound bite in June 2015 about Mexican immigrants. To paraphrase:

When the NRA defends gun owners, they're not always defending the best people. ... They're defending people that can have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with them -- to our schools. They're bringing death. They're bringing chaos. They're fanatics. And some, I assume, are good people.

Welcome to the new arms race, one that private citizens are never going to win until people can buy battleships on Amazon.

Here's what the Second Amendment says:

"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."

And here's what many gun enthusiasts hear:

"Just in case it becomes necessary to overthrow the State, the right of the people to stockpile weapons of war and engage in an arms race with Uncle Sam shall not be infringed."

See what happened there? Over the years, the gun lobby has brazenly repurposed the Second Amendment 180 degrees into something completely different than what it was originally intended to be. The Founders wanted everyday Americans to be able to own guns in order to protect the state, not overthrow it.

The latter is not freedom. It's anarchy. And, if you can't tell the difference, you most certainly should not have a gun.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.