Rights are really simple to understand

I'm already tired of the current debate over increased gun control. Tired in the sense of beginning to despair of hoping that some will ever understand how precious and fragile liberty really is. Liberties, once lost, are seldom regained. Instead, like many other things, the loss of liberty seems to pick up a momentum all its own. As it rolls downhill, picking up speed and mass, one liberty after another seems to fall, faster and faster...At the same time, there is a tendency for some to insist they have rights that simply do not exist. And so, we find ourselves exchanging the real rights that are essential to our continued freedom, for pseudo-rights that do nothing to elevate us as a people or require us to be responsible for our actions and decisions.

So, here I present my view of at least some civil liberties/rights/freedoms that do and do not exist. Prepare to be offended.

• I and all other law abiding people have the right to possess all the firearms, of any description, we want without the necessity of demonstrating need.
• You do not have the right to know what firearms or any other items, if any, I have in my house...nor I in yours. You certainly do not have the right to take them from me.
• You have the right to say things I may not like just as I have the right to say things to which you may object. Neither of us has the right to not be offended, so grow up.
• Freedom of speech was not intended to be limited to some arbitrarily determined "free speech zone". The very idea is alien to the concept of free speech. Denying someone the right to speak to avoid someone else being offended is the act of a coward.
• If you or I choose to say it, we should be willing to accept the consequences of what we say.
• Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution. Freedom of worship, for any group, is a poor substitute. If religion plays a big role in a person's life, he or she is likely to refer to it, or its principles, in public. If you don't like it, express your own opinions when appropriate. Don't deny the other person the right to speak. See the act of a coward, above.
• You do not have the right to health care. A person's laboriously acquired skill, ability and education is his or hers to utilize as he or she sees fit. You do not have a right to that labor. We call that slavery. In case you've forgotten, or never learned, slavery is a Bad Thing. If you do just a little reading, you may find reference to a war that was related to that particular Bad Thing.
• You have the right to vote. You have the right to complain. You even have the right to not vote and complain anyway. You are also the worst kind of lazy, irresponsible loser if you do.
• Things are not So Much Better Over There. I've been Over There. The people are nice. The countryside is beautiful. The art and food are fabulous. And compared to here, the amount of freedom is virtually non-existent. And you want here to be like Over There?