It’s not “the essence” of gun control, as The Puppy Blender labels it–the essence is self-anointed elites controlling those they feel are their inferiors, alluded to but not specifically stated below–but it is a critical element:
“. . .the essence of gun control: ‘Again, it’s an expression of contempt for Middle America. They don’t like you and yours and don’t think you should be in charge of the capacity to take care of yourself. They know they can’t do this for you, but they’ve hired these nice people to draw chalk outlines of your kids, and that’s supposed to make you feel better.'”
And do note, these self-anointed elites not only “know they can’t do this [take care of you/protect you from predators, etc.] for you” but they are counting on it; they WANT those they view as their inferiors to be incapable of resisting predation, because they are the prime predators. Their true subtext to the rest of us is, “Welcome to serfdom; just lay back and enjoy the rape. It’s for our own good”