top | item 40465107

(no title)

alexilliamson | 1 year ago

Yes, but only one side has the guns.

discuss

order

r2_pilot|1 year ago

> Yes, but only one side has the guns.

Aside from the unnecessary inflammatory injection of firearms, I'd like to clarify and say "only one side thinks only they have the guns". Not that this should matter in a civilized country.

alexilliamson|1 year ago

I didn't mean for it to be inflammatory, but it's certainly not unnecessary to the conversation. We can both-sides it all day, but the fact is that one side has a militia proudly ready to use force. Like other commenters have suggested, this isn't necessarily a concern with a functioning civil society. But if we descend into populist mob violence, the side that has eschewed firearms will be at a distinct disadvantage. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it's not so improbable as to be irrelevant here.

CaptWillard|1 year ago

> Not that this should matter in a civilized country.

It should be very clear by now that "civilization" is more fragile than we'd like to believe.

Society, including the systems that protect you from bad actors, could break down, and quickly.

When it comes to guns, the absense of "government" is an under-appreciated possibility.

krapp|1 year ago

In a civilized country, civil society and the rule of law don't depend on the ever-present threat of populist violence to begin with. The US is not a civilized country, and one side definitely not only has most of the guns, but has proven itself more eager to use those guns in the service of their ideological goals than the other.

vundercind|1 year ago

… whoever’s in control of the government?

If you mean only one political party, no, both do.