People who think you should be able to own guns...

[Lucrum]

Quote from stoic:

NOT TRUE !!!

That is absolutely not true. Though unless you've done your own research I can see where someone who gets their "facts" from the "news" media would think that.
It's exactly what they've been brainwashed to believe.

In 1997 a criminologist estimated that private gun ownership prevented nearly 7,000 (not a typo) crimes everyday. Most go unreported and without firing a shot. Overall the crime rate has declined since then so presumably so has that number. But private gun ownership saves more lives than what it costs in terms of criminal gun abuses and accidents, FAR MORE.

 

[drcha]

Quote from LEAPup:

Ahhh. Another lib who slept through history...

300,000,000 armed people in a revolt would DECIMATE this tyrannical government! Where were you when Egypt went into revolt? The government wiped out the first few waves of people, then the government's will broke, and the rest is now history.

300M armed citizens revolting against this broken, COMPLETELY out of control government is a pipe dream, and won't happen imo. However, a simple 1% of that number could wreak so much havoc on this government that yes, the people would ultimately win after the government rolled over and gave up like it's done since the late 1950's.

The US is not Egypt. The government has much more sophisticated weapons at its disposal. The powers that be will do anything to stay where they are. Unless everyone in the military defects, I do not think that 350 million people can win against them.

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from drcha:

The US is not Egypt. The government has much more sophisticated weapons at its disposal. The powers that be will do anything to stay where they are. Unless everyone in the military defects, I do not think that 350 million people can win against them.

1) there would be military defectors. Look at the USSR or more recently Libya.
2) Tiny N. Vietnam beat the shit out of the larger much more powerful USA. And they never even won a major battle.

 

[Ricter]

Quote from stoic:

NOT TRUE !!!

Mental illness, strictly speaking, no, but passion, yes.

 

[drcha]

Quote from Lucrum:

1) there would be military defectors. Look at the USSR or more recently Libya.
2) Tiny N. Vietnam beat the shit out of the larger much more powerful USA. And they never even won a major battle.

Thank you for (1). I hope it is true. One of my concerns is that the US military is a volunteer force, and may differ from the military in other nations.

As for (2), US wars, generally speaking, may not provide examples of what the US is capable of. What the US military does and what it has the capability to do are different things. For example, you could also say that the US was defeated in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. However, one must consider that the "scorched earth" approach with massive, intentional killing of civilians is one the US has mostly avoided, at least since WWII and Japan. I am assuming that if there were a massive and violent domestic revolt, the US government might stop at nothing to control it. That is a worst case scenario, and my assumption could be wrong.

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from Ricter:

Mental illness, strictly speaking, no, but passion, yes.

NO, moron! Not even passion. Not even close.

 

[drcha]

I think we could add Korea as a scorched earth example. Maybe others will find additional examples.

 

[drcha]

Quote from Lucrum:

That is absolutely not true. Though unless you've done your own research I can see where someone who gets their "facts" from the "news" media would think that.
It's exactly what they've been brainwashed to believe.

In 1997 a criminologist estimated that private gun ownership prevented nearly 7,000 (not a typo) crimes everyday. Most go unreported and without firing a shot. Overall the crime rate has declined since then so presumably so has that number. But private gun ownership saves more lives than what it costs in terms of criminal gun abuses and accidents, FAR MORE.

I am willing to look at these data if anyone knows who is collecting them.

 

[Tsing Tao]

Quote from Ricter:

Not at all, because I heard Obama say the exact opposite around that time. Prove me wrong.

I heard Obama say Ricter is a trolling prick. Prove me wrong.

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from drcha:

Thank you for (1). I hope it is true. One of my concerns is that the US military is a volunteer force, and may differ from the military in other nations.

Maybe, but I doubt it. Gays notwithstanding our military is net conservative and unlikely to get excited about firing on their own friends and families.

As for (2), US wars, generally speaking, may not provide examples of what the US is capable of. What the US military does and what it has the capability to do are different things. For example, you could also say that the US was defeated in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. However, one must consider that the "scorched earth" approach with massive, intentional killing of civilians is one the US has mostly avoided, at least since WWII and Japan. I am assuming that if there were a massive and violent domestic revolt, the US government might stop at nothing to control it. That is a worst case scenario, and my assumption could be wrong.

While our military did fight Vietnam with one arm tied behind it's back. We were still superior in every measurable way. Short of using nukes on our own soil which kind of defeats the purpose. There is little more our government could do to control or put down an armed citizenry than what we did in Vietnam.