On 08/08/2012 06:57 PM, Warp wrote:
> Jim Henderson<nos### [at] nospamcom>  wrote:
>> The colonists felt they had the right to defend themselves, and did so -
>> and based on the experience of the revolutionary war, decided that it
>> should be one of the fundamental rights of citizenship so the government
>> couldn't take other rights away at a whim.  The purpose was to provide
>> for defense (indeed, that's part of the 2nd amendment to the constitution
>> - "a well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free
>> State [...]"
>
> The idea has its merits. It's difficult for a totalitarian oppressive
> state to form if its citizens have the firepower to resist.
>
> OTOH, such gun-craziness probably has more negative effects than the
> hypothetical positive...

I think the idea is antiquated.

Once upon a time, the world's finest armies fought using hand guns and 
rifles. So if ordinary citizens could own these, they would be as 
well-armed as the government forces.

Fast-forward several centuries, and the government now has tanks, aerial 
bombers, guided missiles, chemical weapons for area denial, and not 
forgetting FREAKING THERMONUCLEAR WARHEADS! :-P Exactly what good is 
having a revolver, or even a warehouse full of AK-47s? Guns don't work 
on armoured tanks. Some general sitting in a concrete underground bunker 
can watch you in real-time on his spy satellite, and at the flick of a 
button he can send in supersonic missiles to blow your entire weapons 
cache to oblivion before you fire a single shot. YOU ARE OUT-GUNNED.

More to the point, a technological super-power like the USA doesn't even 
/need/ guns. If they want to subdue the populous, they could easily slip 
something into the water and drug everybody into submission. And no 
amount of guns are going to stop them.

Really, anybody who thinks sleeping with a gun is going to stop one of 
the most powerful military nations on God's Earth is delusional. Your 
local neighbourhood burglar? Sure, maybe. The US government? Not gonna 
happen. So y'all better hope the government /doesn't/ suddenly just flip 
out. ;-)

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