What threats and violent actions are you talking about, specifically? What I said was really a restating of the "Don't tread on me" idea (ie the Gasden flag which the Tea Party uses as one of their symbols). The idea is that you have nothing to fear from them as long as you don't attack them. If you have facts that show that they, as a group, don't actually espouse that philosophy then sharing them would actually add something useful to the conversation.

This kind of statement drives me crazy. Do you really think that the fact that people were allowed to SAY those things caused the holocaust and thus freedom somehow caused the holocaust? The problem, from what I've read, was that the general public in Germany at the time was on board with blaming their problems on the Jews, confiscating their property, placing specific restrictions on them, etc.
A common misconception is that freedom means "I can do whatever I want". That's anarchy, not freedom. Real freedom means being able to do pretty much what you want *as long as you aren't hurting or interfering with anyone else*. That last part is very important. Pre-war germany may have been a very free place for anti-semites but it wasn't a free place for Jews. If they had actually had protections for everyone then it wouldn't have made any difference how much some people spouted off about the Jews. Not that I think that people screaming hatred is a good thing (and you could certainly make the argument that this is a form of harm) but the question that matters is why people didn't reject that crap outright instead of getting on board with it.

I think this is a serious and common misunderstanding of the intentions of those who chose to be armed in public. In my experience with far-right types the gun isn't meant as a threat to anyone. It's more of a statement that they will not submit and be victims if their lives are threatened. The only reason to see that as a threat is if you plan on pulling a gun on them. Others are simply following their belief that the only way to keep our rights is to exercise them.