A gunman fired upon thousands of people attending a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday night, in a brutal attack that is blamed for at least 58 deaths, police say. In the mass shooting and panic that ensued, 515 people were injured. At least one of the dead is an off-duty police officer who was attending the concert.
Editorializing: Interesting how media always emphasize ISLAMIC terrorists, but downplay domestic terrorism as psychologically disturbed individual lone-wolfs.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @05:44PM (9 children)
Firstly, the better half of a century has shown that the Mighty U.S. Military really isn't all that good at insurgent warfare. Indeed, America's longest war has been against a rag-tag team of sand people in Afghanistan. They also did poorly against the Vietcong, and the Koreans.
Yet, none of that matters. Your argument actually rests on a straw man; nobody expects that the whole U.S. military will ever side with a tyrannical leader against the citizens at large—indeed, military personnel are some of the biggest proponents of the second amendment, and many would gladly side against a government rather than fire on citizens. The president doesn't actually have his finger on the button; rather, the president has a nearby phone, which he can use to call a few other button pushers, who in turn signal other button pushers, who ultimately lead to trigger pullers. There are a lot patriots along the way, and they want their guns as citizens.
More to the point, the descent into that possibility of tyranny is curtailed by the fact that the citizenry is so heavily armed. Why else would authoritarian politicians constantly be trying to take guns away from the citizens? It's because a well armed public impedes their authoritarianism.
(Score: 5, Informative) by bob_super on Monday October 02 2017, @05:58PM (5 children)
> It's because a well armed public impedes their authoritarianism.
Bullshit.
The US government has gotten more authoritarian since 2001, and you don't see people shooting up the NSA or the CIA, nor freeing the innocent people of Gitmo.
A lot of patriotic songs, a thin veil of rule of law, something to lose, and the proud Americans stay at home polishing their guns and dreaming of rising against any oppression, when the frog is already boiling.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @06:33PM (4 children)
As you've admitted, the authoritarianism must be increased generationally, so slowly that nobody quite realizes it.
That being said, the United States has been rocked by tons of examples which have put the authoritarians back on their heels. The Civil War is an example of people (on both sides) being forced by widespread gun ownership to re-evaluate the role of government. Whenever the masses have access to means of violence, or at least a defensive threat of retaliation, it makes the powers-that-be think twice, a back and forth that can be seen even in incidents of domestic anti-government terrorism.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday October 02 2017, @06:39PM (3 children)
Funny that, I thought the Civil War was decided by victories on battlefields, between uniformed armies of various governments.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 02 2017, @07:31PM (2 children)
Many, if not most, of those uniformed soldiers were members of home town militias. The town musters a company, batallion, or regiment (a very large town, medium sized city for a full regiment) and informs Uncle that the troops are at Uncle's disposal. Very much like the individual state's national guard are hired out to the US government today to campaign overseas.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday October 02 2017, @07:46PM (1 child)
The individual state's national guards are equipped by the state, labelled and uniformed accordingly.
Individuals stockpiling firearms do not fit that discussion. Individuals stockpiling more weapons than they can carry, while talking about protecting their family from bad guys, or their freedom from oppressive government, do not fit the National Guard or "militia at Uncle's service" parallel.
If they stockpiled while giving the safe's code to all their neighbors, maybe...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 02 2017, @07:57PM
Uhhhhh - the ship's captain, or the regimental commander neither one gives the combo to all of his troops. Maybe a half dozen TRUSTED individuals get the key/combo, but regular troops are locked out.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @07:37PM (2 children)
> military personnel are some of the biggest proponents of the second amendment, and many would gladly side against a government rather than fire on citizens.
Ding!! Wrong. Consider Kent State shootings of unarmed students by National Guard.
A link in case your history is weak: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings [wikipedia.org]
Or listen to the dirge, "Ohio" by CSNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRE9vMBBe10 [youtube.com] and check out some of the comments--they are a *lot" more coherent than normal YouTube comments.
Anyone that thinks it's rough out there now needs to read some history.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @08:23PM (1 child)
The other poster didn't claim that every member of the military would side against a government rather than fire on citizens.
What is wrong with you people? Why can't you think straight?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @11:03PM
The overwhelming vast majority were schooled in government institutions designed by big-industry men who wanted people no smarter than those needed to run industrial machines. Check out John Taylor Gatto's work for specifics on how governments have been used to break down and destroy the greatest learning machine in the known universe: the mind of a child.