Do gun owners believe their guns will protect them against a tyrannical US Government?
Suppose we woke up tomorrow and found ourselves under an oppressive totalitarian government. Do you think your handguns, shotguns, hunting rifles, etc. will protect you? Keep in mind our professional soldiers have Night Vision Equipment, armored vehicles, airstrike capability, etc.
Some of you claim that gun rights were protected in order for citizens to fight against an oppressive government, but in the 1780′s, it was feasible for a group of farmers with squirrel rifles to defend themselves against a group of part-time soldiers who were also armed with squirrel rifles. These days, we have a standing army of trained soldiers who have weapons far beyond anything citizens can own. In this situation, owning a gun doesn’t make you safe, it makes you a target. Look what happened in Waco and at Ruby Ridge.
Wrath of Kahl, how many people will you take with you when you get hit by a laser-guided JDAM? My point is, there is no real way to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government, but feel free to keep living the fantasy.
sophie, thanks for having the guts to call me a Commie in public. I am so sick of people who are so cowardly they can only call me a Commie in a PM!
simon p, interesting response! The two groups of people I most love to torment are creationists and gun nuts. Coincidence?
bmovies60, nice try, but the VC had Soviet-supplied SAM’s, armored vehicles, etc. Also, the Afghanistan resistance was supplied with weapons such as shoulder-launched Stinger missiles by Ronald Reagan. Those efforts were successful, but they were helped by major superpowers. Who will help us stop Obama from sending us to FEMA camps?
Charles, I’m not saying people shouldn’t have the right to own guns. I’m just saying that if you own a gun because you think it will protect you from the NWO, you are sadly mistaken.
pacl, I was originally going to ask if gun owners thought "Red Dawn" was real, but I did not want to insult anyone’s intelligence. Thank you for doing it for me. By the way, you are right when you say that my theoretical government would have to completely get rid of the US constitution. My entire premise is ridiculous, thanks for noticing.
i know! it would be pointless. im going to shoot my .223 at your aegis destroyer
March 10th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Nope but it will at least give you the ability to take as many as you can with you before you die.
EDIT: Yeah look what happened at Waco and Ruby Ridge.
No reason to fear the government is there.
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March 10th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
the people who cling to their guns and Bibles do so because they are too paralyzed with fear to take the time to think logically about the world.. in America, we call them Republicans.
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March 10th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Yes, we have a militia of over 300 million. Just a bit larger than our military wouldn’t you think?
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March 10th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
i don’t think so…Gun only kills…
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March 10th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Get the neoconservatives back in power and we will soon find out. The neocons will be yelling Hail Palin!
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March 10th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
I’ll die on my feet, before I live on my knees.
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March 10th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Gun nuts think theyre protected with their guns.
Good point about waco and RR
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March 10th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
i know! it would be pointless. im going to shoot my .223 at your aegis destroyer
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March 10th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
At least we would go down fighting; and in the meantime, being able to protect ourselves and our families from lunatics and criminals couldn’t hurt.
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March 10th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
the people will never unite against the government, you have a two party system,
they are designed to keep the people divided – - eg keep them argueing over red and blue like idiots while the gov does whatever they want, they know about 50% will support them no matter how crazy their ideas are – -eg invading a country on the otherside with no chance of winning like veitnam mark 2
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March 11th, 2010 at 12:24 am
Forget it. We don’t have the will to control anything because it may make someone uncomfortable.
Not even Children .
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March 11th, 2010 at 12:36 am
How many soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines do you believe would take up arms against their fellow citizens in the example you provided? I maintain the VAST majority of them would remember the oath they took and remain faithful thereto.
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March 11th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Duhh (appropriate name) where do you come up with 300 million?
Gee Sophie, you’re a sweet little thing aint you?
May I remind you that David Karesh wouldn’t allow anyone to leave even after the fire started? Even the children. He was just a wacko in Waco. The other family were spud heads (from Idaho). No telling what they were thinking. In both cases their guns were responsible for their own deaths.
I have guns to protect me from intruders, I’ve never considered using them against the government.
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March 11th, 2010 at 1:14 am
So in the event this totalitarian oppression occurs you plan to do what?
Throw sticks at them?
Pay them off?
Call them names?
Or just lay down and take it?
I have never owned a gun and have always been leary of having one in the house. But I have to honestly say I am reconsidering that now. Between the terrorists coming in and the dangerous direction our own government is heading towards, I plan to defend both my family and my country any way I can.
I don’t think sticks will do it.
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March 11th, 2010 at 1:51 am
Unless the 2nd Amendment can be interpreted as "Everyone can have the same weapons as the government", then no, civilian guns will not help them
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March 11th, 2010 at 2:14 am
Talking to people about gun control is like talking to creationists. They know what they believe and no amount of evidence and argument will change this.
Both come from alot of irrational fear people have and a reluctance to admit that your life is boring and meaningless.
No the terrorists and government are not going to attack you. We all know that guns are just used to make up for peoples own inadequacies.
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March 11th, 2010 at 2:34 am
Worried about the US Government? No. The crackhead who keeps walking up and down my street? Yes.
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March 11th, 2010 at 3:03 am
Guns give us the ability to protect our homes from would-be robbers, killers, and rapist. No my pistol or shot gun wouldn’t help against a tank, duh.
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March 11th, 2010 at 3:29 am
"Suppose we woke up tomorrow and found ourselves under an oppressive totalitarian government. Do you think your handguns, shotguns, hunting rifles, etc. will protect you? Keep in mind our professional soldiers have night vision equipment, armored vehicles, airstrike capability, etc."
Keep in mind what the Afghanistan people did to the Soviet Union armed forces. What the vietcong did to the United States armed forces.
It can be done. It takes a while, but it can be done.
One time the Navy decided to do an exercise with their highly trained Navy Seals to see how they would perform against armed, but untrained civilians. The civilians were outfitted with just everyday rifles (special rifles that didnt shoot actual bullets) while the Navy Seals were outfitted with everything but the kitchen sink. All their special equipement, etc. They made a pretend invasion from the sea, only to have the untrained civilians send their butts retreating back to the water within a matter of hours. As far as I know, the Navy never had another one of those training sessions.
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March 11th, 2010 at 4:00 am
So we are to dispose of the means neccesary to at least try to defend ourselves? You would prefer that people just throw their arms up and say "Okay, I quit! You may now take me to my governement sanctioned re-education center!"
So what? They have night vision, armored vehicles, etc. I would rather die fighting for my freedom then be forced to follow 0bam..oops…a tyrannical government.
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March 11th, 2010 at 4:30 am
With a 3/4 tril budget and over 100 contracting mercenary firms people will be at their mercy, kinda like ww2. My faith is in the rapture when God will ‘catch up’ all those faithful watching for him from the ‘wrath to come’. as He did with Noah and Lot.
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March 11th, 2010 at 4:57 am
yes.
but we should do what Liberals want. We should take away guns from the people so only criminals have them and then they can kill us while we watch defenseless.
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March 11th, 2010 at 5:16 am
It may not protect us from the totalitarian state, but at the point that we stop giving these rights we open the door to tyranny. Liberty is the fundemental opposition to tyrany, and despotism, when we start to degrade liberty, taking away rights and letting the government control us we open the door for endless violations and eventually a tyrannical state. Giving liberty is what stops the tyrannical government, not the weapons, but the fundemenal idealogy behind allowing me to own a gun. When we start to sacrifice liberty for the state, we open the door to Nazi Germany, the ethic of state over self, Aka that the government gets to decide what is right/wrong/moral/immoral, is the reasoning that allowed for Hitler to massacre 2 million people without question.
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March 11th, 2010 at 5:30 am
Why, why, WHY do Liberals ask "questions" like this? What possible purpose could it serve except to stroke their fragile egos?
Look, your mind is obviously made up, but you’re dead wrong. In history, not one country has been overtaken by a totalitarian government where the citizens had the right to gun ownership.
Let’s imagine your doomsday scenario is real. There is an oppressive, Constitution-burning totalitarian government in place. Well, the first problem is power. You see, we have checks and balances. If the government oversteps its authority then the Judiciary branch declares their actions unconstitutional. This oppressive government would literally have to disband the Supreme Court. At this point, we’d have armed rebellion, and yes…. the citizens would swamp the "evil government", because our soldiers are patriots who would not follow non-Consitutional orders, and neither would the generals.
Tens of millions of Americans own guns, not only in rural areas but in cities. Any attempt by some Star Wars-type stormtroopers to run roughshod over the citizenry would be met by absolutely massive resistance. Of course, it would never get to this point, because our military would not obey orders that contradict the Constitution.
Since you are implying some sci-fi, doomsday scenario, then I encourage you to see this vision on film, an old 1980s movie called "Red Dawn".
Watch it, and ask yourself if you don’t agree I’m right.
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EDIT: One person wrote: "look what happened at Waco and Ruby Ridge". The people in these places were fringe element "wackos" in the eyes of most Americans, and hence they got no sympathy nor support from the public.
We are talking about something quite different, an actual "Us vs Them", The People vs The Government smackdown. No way a government can handle a completely out of control populace. And no way a non-Constitutional government can use the military or work within the legal system. They’d have to attempt a coup, and that would not happen.
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087985/