One argument for citizen gun ownership holds that it is necessary for those cases in which the government becomes tyrannical, and the citizens must rise up against it.
I do not find this argument persuasive.
Now, I actually do agree with the argument’s proponents that armed citizens could make life precarious for the agents of tyranny. They could indeed.
I just think that long before we reached that point, the U.S. armed forces themselves would have been divided, and a civil war would be underway. The military is diverse, and its opinions are in large part a function of public opinion itself. In any conflict where the citizens rose up en masse to oppose the government, a large share of the military would side with the people against the state.
In such a war, the contributions of armed irregulars would be small, and we can only hope that the stronger side of the intra-military conflict would be the liberal one. Gun ownership, or not, wouldn’t matter much.
Military resistance to the government and people’s resistance to the government will co-occur, or they will not occur at all.
US military vs. US citizens in a civil war. A purely civilian force would not stand a chance even if they had automatic weapons. At least some form of profession soldiers would have to side with them. I also think that at least some of the military would not be able to stomach turning against their own people. Saying that, history has shown that the structure of the military can result in mass atrocities against civilians, just look at WW2. It is an interesting but scary thought. The loyalty to the chain of command is very strong in the military.
An armed civilian force could hinder small scale tyranny by law enforcement rather than military. This is a more credible argument for gun ownership for prevention against tyranny.
In Australia, gun laws are very strict. Gun usage is for recreational purposes and not self-defence or for uprising against the Government. There are restrictions on calibre of weapon, types of ammunition as well as special storage requirements.
I have personally opted out of owning a gun. I think I can more effectively rebel using words.
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Feudal governments fear that the people may possess weapons against them...
But governments fear more that people have political consciousness...
Truth and political consciousness is the most dangerous weapon against feudal governments...
Governments use all media to make people not know the truth, and that's why you find ridiculous TV shows for the distraction of people with trivial things and make him not really interested in the truth.
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if those in the military were more comfortable than the general populace, they may be more reluctant to join the citizens.
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