I keep hearing that a major reason for the American gun culture is the need to protect one's self from government. Are Americans really that afraid of their government or is that all NRA and QAnon selfserving hype?

Originally answered on Quora September 13, 2022

Seeing as the government and it’s agents have no specific legal duty to protect individual citizens, as stipulated in Warren v. DC, even when they have a restraining order against the assailant, as stipulated in Castle Rock v. Gonzales, and have qualified immunity to violate their citizen’s rights with impunity, unless the courts can find a case with the exact same scenario, and given this government has declared war on it’s citizenry twice, first through the war on drugs and then through the more fraudulent war on terrorism, has amassed “collateral damage” in millions of innocent lives and our civil liberties, and as a condition of war retained the power to suspend habeas corpus and indefinitely detain citizens (and non-citizens) accused of terrorism and enact extrajudicial punishments including executions of citizens (even little children) via drone strike and has used the fraudulent war on terrorism to arm civilian police to the teeth with surplus military gear through the Pentagon’s 1033 program such that these once friendly local police now resemble standing arms, often have military training and act like them breaking down doors in the middle of the night, unannounced, and shooting pets and loved ones over contraband often at the wrong address not listed on the warrant and given that some prudent jurisdictions have recognized the right of citizens to defend themselves against unlawful police action, especially when it’s impossible for the citizen to differentiate them from burglars at night, I’d say informed Americans are reasonably afraid of their government and have good reason to maintain means of self-defense, especially when they live in rough neighborhoods or in areas with no police department and the uniformed idiot who asked this question has latched on to some blind faith based belief in government that is unsubstantiated by reality.