No, there is literally zero reason why any American citizen should be allowed to obtain rocket launchers, .50 caliber machine guns, hand grenades.....
Try again. And this time stop watching so much Red Dawn.
First question, have you ever served in the ground forces either Army or Marines, or do you just like talking :censored ?
The common infantryman doesn't carry a "machine gun," while rocket launchers and grenades are "ordinance" and issued prior to going out into combat on an as needed basis. :roll:
No, the military and police are not "apt to oppress our populace". Claiming so is a paranoid delusion at best.
First point. It is the police/security and military forces of monarchs, oligarchs, dictators, and other oppressive regimes that enforce the rules. It is fear of prisons, government surveillance, paid informers, kristalnacht tactics, concentration camps, etc. all enforced by the barrel of a government gun. The guns are held by police and military forces.
And yes, the firearms your average civilian has are less effective than the weaponry available to the military. The fantasy that civilian militia would have any chance against a professional, well trained military force is a fond one, but history shows it to be totally untrue. Even the much vaunted militia of the American Revolution failed to come anywhere close to achieving their goals until they gained experience and learned how to fight in a professional manner, and even after then debacles like Bladensburg show what happens when militia goes up against people who actually know how to fight.
In case of an actual invasion(and by who, exactly? Neither China nor Russia has shown the capability to transport a force big enough to occupy this vast country, much less conquer it in the first place, and I doubt there's any other power out there capable of doing so) militias would be a liability at best. And before you start talking about Afghanistan......had the Taliban managed to take power back yet? No? How many years has it been? How many have we killed? And these are people hardened by decades of warfare. Do you actually think your average, soft American "militiaman" is capable of putting out that kind of war effort? Because nothing in American history shows that American society is capable of doing so. We get bored when our overwhelming victories don't just make the other side give up and go away.
Second point. Now it is true that when "civilian militia" try to go head to head with trained
military units, they typically lose. However, those are not the tactics used by civilian militia.
It was when they sniped from concealed positions, set up small ambushes to worry the enemy, engaged in perpetual acts of sabotage, and attacked small groups with larger numbers that they work best.
Civilian militia may also do well against police para-military units, who are trained in dealing with common arrests and the occasional gang shootout. Not with mass armed uprisings.
Currently, we occupy Afghanistan. Has it been "pacified" after 16 years of occupation? We occupied Iraq after defeating Saddam's organized army, and yet we continued to deal with rebel groups, and have now been dealing with ISIS for how many years?
Third point. I am ex-military with ten years combined experience in Army combat arms branches, both enlisted and officer. There are hundreds of thousands of veterans of all ages now pursuing civilian endeavors. We create a core of trained and experienced personnel who, if motivated enough, can offer some challenge to those actively serving.
Also, in a civil insurrection, there remains a danger that the very forces used might contain enough sympathizers entire units could defect to the rebel side, or simply refuse to fight. This may be especially true of National Guard units from the areas in revolt. There is also the possibility of defectors from Army or guard units who go AWOL to join the rebels.
Finally, as I've stated over and over,
the right only guarantees the People the capability of engaging in a rebellion. It does not guarantee success. Better to have some chance, however small, than no chance at all.
The American Revolutionary War
lasted eight years, and despite all your reservations it still resulted in the defeat of the most powerful military force at the time.
The very possibility that such an armed insurrection might ensue prevents most efforts at oppression.
Things are never as simple as people like yourself think... :coffeepap:
