I believe the Right of self-defense is as unalienable a Right as Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Indeed, without it Life and Liberty become arbitrary at best. Rights may be unalienable, but they do not necessarily come free. Responsibility is the cost. Individuals must accept the responsibility of their actions and the consequences. My personal safety is my responsibility. To expect others to take on that responsibility is fool hardy. We must make certain concessions as social creatures for the good of the order, so to speak, but we should never concede the basic Right and individual responsibility we have to preserve ourselves. To that end, I believe the 2nd amendment of the constitution of the United States of America is a fundamental Civil Right. Any authority that deprives normal law abiding individuals of the means to protect themselves from the predators that exist in all human societies, must be questioned. Society has nothing to fear from the responsible, armed citizen.