Guns, who should be able to own them? Options

[*NatiMarie*]

We all know that guns can cause harm, they're everywhere darnit!

Primarily, who can own them? Who shouldn't own them?

[EmeraldKnight]

In the US, the people would still know their local community better than the government. ENOUGH people, armed with only handguns, would be able to overthrow their governemnt, especially when the government lacked support.

And you're sayng that currently, a significant enough portion of the population possesses handguns to do so?

YOu have to remember that in a revolution, actual fighting is only a small part of it. In Eastern Europe and the Soviet Bloc, alot of governments were brought down with only a little fighting. Why? Because after the soldiers were ordered to fire on their own countrymen, alot simply laid down their arms and joined the rebels looting the country.

You have to remmeber that when I say a revolution, I don't mean one now obviously. One could only happen when the government is so decrepit, that it already lost the support of MOST of the country, and that morale in the army itself is low.

No I'm not saying our troops in Iraq defect. They're being ordered to shoot Iraqis. When soldiers are ordered to shoot their own friends and neighbors for a cause that they might not percieve to be just, historically speaking, they have a tendency to defect: Eastern Europe 1990s, Russia 1918, etc. This is especially true of conscripted troops. If we resume the draft, then a sucessful revolution would be fairly probably within 50 years. But we probably won't.

Couldnt the same results be achieved by peaceful protest? if the army loses its morale and defects, why must civilians fight? I think you're going against yourself here..

There's lots of retired army vets. They tend to be the most traditionally conservative of all. The American Revolution was started largely by people with military experience, or at least civilians who could figure out.

Well... are you saying that retired army vets and civilians would know enough about modern military technology to be able to utilize captured weaponry?

haha, i find it kinda funny that we're debating what would happen if there was another revolution and still managing to tie it back to the topic