guns

They don't consider it a right.

Seriously, that's what it comes down to. You either believe that the right to keep and bear arms is a human right, or you don't. A right can not, and should not, be restricted.

But who decides what is and isn't a right? Well, in the case of the U.S., it was written into the primary source of law for the country not long after that source was put into action.

Anything since then is a series of arguments about what that document "means". So far, the argument that the right to keep and bear arms being a human right rather than a right only of the state has been upheld. That's called the individual mandate iirc, though there may be other terminology in play.

Now, I'm not getting into a debate here, I despise rehashing the same bullshit over and over again. There's a shit ton of good arguments and bad arguments made by people on the two main sides of the issue (and there are actually more than two sides, but the loudest voices end up drowning out others), so you can find those if you really want.

Being real, most of the hot button issues come down to a group of people believing that something is a right, and others believing it isn't. Abortion? It's about the right to body autonomy vs the belief that body autonomy is not a human right that is inviolable. There is a section of those that don't believe it is a right that believe so because they also believe that the little thing inside has rights that trump the rights of the parent; but there are those that aren't part of that section that still don't believe it's a right and thus can be regulated accordingly.

I obviously do consider firearms to be essential to a human right, that being the right to defense, what with the whole comment starting with they. That being said, as soon as firearms cease to exist entirely, and/or everyone, including every police force and armed services are disarmed before citizens, I'd be willing to concede that firearms are no longer essential to that right. But the right to arms is a human right, regardless of what form of arms exist. If we went back to archery and swords, those would be the weapons essential to that core right. Which, to me, is the important part, that core right rather than the form that right takes.

Fwiw, idgaf about lib vs con bullshit. I'm so far left that the typical US liberal thinks I'm dangerous. I'm not far left, but I'm a damn sight further left than the usual people involved in this issue.