Nice mini-essay. :)
"Institutional power" is very different from "Street power" in the fight for survival.
When someone came to take your life pacifism is not the right gun to fight back or be a masochist victim
"I don't even call it violence when it's in self-defense; I call it intelligence". Malcolm X
Thanks! It's funny you should mention Malcolm X. Some of the earliest modern gun control legislation in the US was passed to prevent the Black Panthers from patrolling predominantly black neighborhoods during the civil rights movement in California. Black communities felt that the police presence wasn't particularly helpful, so they attempted to circumvent the state. Reagan as governor then responded by banning open carry here.
I'm impressed you know the story of those times of predominating radical changes because people at the time was totally aware of the right to fight for freedom and experiencing real cathartic alchemy inside them.
People want to be at peace with the world but inside the head, there is war with themselves. I prefer the opposite. :).Inner peace and war with the world.