• @spicystraw@lemmy.world
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    1318 hours ago

    One aspect of the U.S. Second Amendment that I struggle to understand is how owning firearms can be seen as a check against government power in the modern era. No matter how much money an individual spends on collecting weapons, they can never match the resources of a government with access to advanced technology like orbital GPS networks, fighter jets, drones, bioweapons, logistics, and nuclear weapons.

    When the Amendment was written, weaponry was still in its early stages of development, and the assumption was that a well-armed populace could, with sufficient numbers, overthrow a tyrannical regime. However, in today’s world, this seems unrealistic. Even if someone owned a thousand .50 caliber Desert Eagles, it wouldn’t make a significant difference against such overwhelming governmental power.

    • @shalafi@lemmy.world
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      917 hours ago

      The Vietnamese and Afghans could probably tell us a thing or two.

      One aspect I don’t think many appreciate is the deterrent effect of private gun ownership. The fascists would have already overrun us were we not armed. Notice the major ICE raids have been in NYC and California? Those are the two places in America with the strictest, and often dumbest, gun laws. Anecdotally, being visibly armed likely saved me two ass beatings in the past year. LOL, one guy was so fucking mad he was shaking, choking himself to be polite.

      Most of our military might can’t be brought to bear on civilians. The examples you gave are purpose built to fight another military on their turf. The Air Force isn’t going to deploy fighter jets to put down a riot. And NONE of those things will continue working about a week after civilians pull support.

      • @RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        128 minutes ago

        Would have already overrun us?

        They have.

        Look who is in charge. The fascists won by courting the far right and telling them they needed guns. Now they have the guns and the government.

      • @Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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        416 hours ago

        Guerilla warfare works. It’s great against large systems with small vulnerabilities. In those cases a small imbedded group is far better than outside force.

        I hear.

    • @Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world
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      414 hours ago

      You see, if the government bombs it’s cities flat, it no longer has anything to govern, and falls anyways.

      What we need are armed protests. Something you can’t just easily police thug your way out of. We can all go protest and wave signs all we want, but until those in power are once again afraid of it’s people, nothing will change.

    • thermal_shock
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      315 hours ago

      One aspect of the U.S. Second Amendment that I struggle to understand is how owning firearms can be seen as a check against government power in the modern era. No matter how much money an individual spends on collecting weapons, they can never match the resources of a government with access to advanced technology like orbital GPS networks, fighter jets, drones, bioweapons, logistics, and nuclear weapons.

      No shit they’ll just burn your place to the ground Tulsa style. USA is quickly becoming North Korea.

    • @blackstratA
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      116 hours ago

      So what your saying is we need to give people more weapons to even up the fight.