Who is Servant to Whom?

Nursing student Meredith Graves continues to garner headlines. In a piece on January 8, 2012, Kevin Williamson wrote I am Meredith Graves in the National Review Online. Williamson notes that when he worked in Philadelphia, he had a State issued concealed carry permit, exactly as Meredith Graves from her home in Tennessee, and how easy it was to violate the terms of that permit. If you have ever been to Philadelphia, you will know that Delaware, New Jersey, and New York are all within a quick drive of each other. Williamson relates a particular case in which he was taking friends to see the Liberty Bell. After explaining that it became routine for him to carry his gun whenever he went out:

So routine, in fact, that I sometimes forgot that I was carrying it, until something reminded me. That was the case when I was standing in line to take some visitors to see the Liberty Bell. Like Meredith Graves, I told the security guys that I had a license to carry a gun, that I was in fact carrying one, and asked them what they’d like me to do with it. They were typical government employees, of course, struck dumb by any unexpected turn of events.

Fortunately, he resolved his problem by placing the gun in his brief case, and checking the brief case in with the valet's desk at a nearby hotel. That in itself probably violated some law, but I doubt that Pensylvania will go after Mr. Williamson at this late date.

What I find interesting in most of the reports I read about either the Meredith Graves case, or the myriad of other cases involving otherwise peaceable citizens getting caught with a gun in New York City is that so few mention the outrageousness of someone sitting in jail for, much less being charged, when there was clearly no criminal intent; no mens rea. For peurposes of gun law in this country, a 3 year sentence would turn Graves into a prohibited person. How can a person be "prohibited" without having a criminal intent, much less an actual crime.  If she had kept her mouth shut, and kept her weapon concealed, would anyone have been the wiser?  It seems as if our masters intend to treat us like they treat school children with a "no tolerance" policy.  Williamson again:

Some will object: “You two should have known better. You should have made sure in advance that you were in compliance with the local law at all times.” And there’s something to that. (A Man for All Seasons and all that.) On the other hand, Meredith Graves and I are Americans, and the American government exists at our sufferance, not the other way around, and it sometimes needs to be reminded of that fact, especially when it is acting capriciously and incompetently, which is the rule when it comes to firearms and crime.

I am guilty as charged. But the larger point is, as Williamson indicates, in our society, the citizen is supposed to be sovereign, and the government is supposed to be our servant.  When will we begin to act like that is the case?