The efforts although enjoying enormous political and financial support evade the fundamental issues and fail to educate the public. In the end they promote the political cynicism the gun lobby thrives on. The Violence Policy Center's statement on registration and licensing is an example of where the public health models lead. The extreme individualism of the right to be armed outside of the law is at the center of contemporary American rightwing politics . We can take libertarian republicanism as the unofficial, if not the official, doctrine of the National Rifle Association.
Republicanism is a form of government.
The version of libertarianism formulated and promoted by gun rights advocates denies the very legitimacy of government. The operating concept is individual sovereignty. The personal right to arms sought by the likes of Stephen Halbrook and the National Rifle Association is the right to individual sovereignty. Individual sovereignty is a plank in the Libertarian Party Platform. Individual sovereigns by definition do not consent to be governed.