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You hit on the real answer to the typical question in your first example, but that answer will almost invariably simply flip an off-switch in the ears of the anti-gun, pro-Government, the-only-possible-reasonable-use-of-a-gun-by-a-citizen-is-hunting questioner. The moment you give them an argument that speaks to a distrust of Government or willful resistance against the Authorities, you are labeled a subversive, a right-wing-nut, etc... and anything you say MUST BE SHOUTED DOWN with correct talking points. Reasonable discourse becomes nigh on impossible where the bases are so divergent.

We must find ways to bring the bases of our reasoning closer together. Many on the Left either have no education in History and human nature or they must truly believe that their fellow modern citizens are immune to repeating history for some reason and it is therefore irrelevant. The lessons history teaches us -- that force cannot be stopped/defeated if no effort is made, that men of avarice exist and they will constantly work to consolidate power an wealth by means both legal and ethical and by means illegal and unethical, and that some of these men inevitably become tyrants if allowed to -- must somehow be given relevance in the minds of the anti-gunners before they'll begin to recognize validity and truth in our arguments.