• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    310 months ago

    Yeah, it was really intended before we had those things, and still had to worry about the British. And also the natives. Neither presents much of a threat these days, so we should probably circle back on that whole militia thing and see if it’s still needed. I think it’s just a cost center at this point that frankly we could do without and pick up our performance on life expectancy and crime rates.

    • SokathHisEyesOpen
      link
      fedilink
      English
      410 months ago

      It wasn’t just to protect the United States against the British and the natives, it was also to protect the people against their own government should it become oppressive. There’s a strong argument that the government has become way too powerful for armed citizens to represent any type of check or balance, but that’s irrelevant for the original intent.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        210 months ago

        It really wasn’t, as shown by the Whiskey Rebellion. That’s the popular talking point, but it was bullshit then and it’s orders of magnitude more bullshit now.

        Even the vaunted successes of the Black Panthers arming up ended up in the destruction of the Panthers via intimidation, arrest, and assassination. Then you have the Davidians and Ruby Ridge.

        They want you to have guns, because it makes you feel like you don’t have to do anything. If anything, it makes you more anti-government and paranoid against both the government they’re trying to dismantle and the neighbors they want you to not trust.