Invisible wrote:
> 1. There will be a cival war if the government does something the people 
> don't like.

We did once.  You don't think there would be all-out war in this country if 
Congress decided to repeal the constitution we have pass Sharia law instead?

> 2. Not having guns makes it impossible to force the government to change 
> its policy.

It's not *just* the guns. The guns are what keep the government from 
changing the rules to the point where they can't be changed back. The guns 
are what happen when the government officials stop following their own rules.

So far, they're still following the rules, for the most part. We haven't had 
any president declare an "emergency" that canceled elections, nor has 
Congress reinstated slavery.

Understand that guns are the "I'd rather die than live under this system" 
sort of thing, not the "I don't like what that senator just said" sort of 
thing. They'd only come in to play if you were actually willing to shoot at 
soldiers.

> This whole idea that "without guns the government will enslave the 
> people, but as long as people carry guns the government can be held in 
> check" seems utterly ridiculous to me.

That's becasue you're exaggerating it into absurdity and then arguing it's 
absurd. There are a bunch of checks and balances built into the system, such 
as the military not being loyal to the *people* running the government but 
to the *laws* of the government.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The question in today's corporate environment is not
   so much "what color is your parachute?" as it is
   "what color is your nose?"

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