Sunday, May 29, 2011

2nd Amendment solutions & paramilitary cops

One of the things that idiot NRA types are quick to say is that the 2nd Amendment was meant so that individuals could own guns that could be used as a check on the government if the government exceeded its powers and tried to impose tyranny. To put it bluntly: That's utter balderdash, based on myths and fantasies with no basis in reality.

The first fantasy, of course, is the fantasy that the U.S. War of Secession that bankrupted the English Crown was won by rag-tag militias armed with personal weapons. Uhm, no. As I've previously explained, the U.S. War of Secession against the English Crown was won by regular military. The weapons of the era meant that the majority of battles were won by bayonets, not by guns, and civilian weapons did not mount bayonets. So our founding fathers knew first-hand that it was not just guns that were necessary, but *military* guns, in the hands of well-trained people who knew how to organize and use them. Thus the militias part of the 2nd Amendment. Which was referring to state-organized and sponsored military organizations, not to a ragtag bunch of folks who grabbed their hunting weapons and ran out to take out tyrants. Our founding fathers would have laughed if you made such a statement -- they considered unorganized militias largely a joke, and even organized militias had proven to have little military value in actual combat compared to trained professional soldiers.

But that was then, you say, and this is now. Well... the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force can easily take out any "militia" armed with personal weapons if said "militia" attempts to take them on as an organized force. And if said "militia" instead lurks in their individual homes waiting for the secret police to show up, in hopes of taking out the secret police... well. Ve haff ways of dealing with that. Current tactics already account for the possibility that the victim err 'perp' might want to kill cops. That's why the cops simultaneously smash flashbangs in through every single window and hit the door themselves only moments later. That's why we get all these dead bodies shot by paramilitary cops because the victim err perp heard someone moving around outside their house and grabbed a gun... the masked guys in black have already accounted for that.

Which just points out the pointlessness of the notion that "2nd Amendment Solutions" could work. The only thing that has *ever* worked in the face of paramilitary police forces is when the paramilitary police forces have deserted to the side of the people. But that possibility is being taken care of right now via the whole "war on everyone" mentality that has taken grip of our police forces, where everybody, even Granny stopped for running a stop sign, is a dirtbag out to kill cops, and treated accordingly, and cops who refuse to treat "civilians" as scum untermenschen are weeded out in a number of ways.

To summarize using JzB's favorite acronym: WASF.

- Badtux the Waddling Penguin

2 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Err, no. This post wasn't at all about whether there is an individual right to keep arms in the Constitution. This post was about the utility of arms in the hands of individual unorganized people for the purpose of overthrowing an organized government.

    But since you appear curious about what the actual reason the 2nd Amendment was added to the Constitution is, I've added a post on that subject all for you. It's a bit more complicated than Blogger's primitive comments system can handle...

    - Badtux the Constitutional Penguin

    ReplyDelete

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