Put simply, that government is legitimate which seeks to protect and vindicate individual, God-given rights. In so doing, however, government is ordinarily not justified in acting “preemptively,” or in other words, in curtailing freedom in the name of eliminating any possibility of crime ever taking place. It is in this misguided spirit that laws are framed, for example, that seek to disarm all citizens not only to prevent, but to preclude, violent crime. Advocates of “gun control” argue that mass shootings cannot occur if people are denied access to firearms. But such laws always curtail the unalienable right to self-defense among the law-abiding, and while they may make it harder for criminals to access prohibited weapons, they do not deter violent criminality overall.
Thus government’s legitimate role is as protector of individual rights. That its powers so often extend far beyond such activities is a testament to the readiness of men to accept illicit masters. But government power that is limited to the protection of God-given rights will by definition “provide for the common defense,” “establish justice,” “promote the general welfare,” and accomplish every other goal in the preamble to our Constitution.
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