Freedom is the absence of coercive interference over one's life. Exercising self-defense with adequate tools is affirmatively more free than being forbidden from doing so.
Safety is not freedom. Both are desirable but conceptually there is no overlap, and in reality there is often a tradeoff. Conflating the two as though safety is a form of freedom is a pretty good shibboleth for authoritarians; let alone defining freedom as the feeling of safety, which is textbook doublethink.
The US has strayed in many ways, but we seem to have the most people out of anywhere who are still invested in actual freedom.
Safety is not freedom. Both are desirable but conceptually there is no overlap, and in reality there is often a tradeoff. Conflating the two as though safety is a form of freedom is a pretty good shibboleth for authoritarians; let alone defining freedom as the feeling of safety, which is textbook doublethink.
The US has strayed in many ways, but we seem to have the most people out of anywhere who are still invested in actual freedom.