"Bit of an unkind simile there. And you are allowed to own a tank. There is also not much similarity between being able to chat in private and a 30 ton machine designed to kill people."
No, the point is that the government does, and has, all sorts of things it's illegal for the general population to do and have. Detain people for questioning, etc.
It's not hypocritical. It might be stupid to ban encryption, but that's a different adjective.