China has a problem with assault knives

[stanc]

The choice between freedom or a repressive government, I would choose the shootings with crazies as would most people.

Your premise is faulty. The issue is not a choice between freedom versus a repressive government.

It's a choice between freedom versus prohibitions on private ownership of some types of firearms.

Correction: Actually, freedom is not even an option. We have not had the freedom to legally buy and own guns without first getting government approval for more than half a century.

So, the choice is not between freedom or a repressive government. The choice is between what degrees of government "infringement" there will be on a supposedly unalienable right.