A Usenet persona calling itself Wilko wrote:


Wilko

P.S. I'm still laughing because of the image of a bunch of fat, out of
shape middle aged men with shotguns, pistols and hunting rifles trying
to take on well trained troops with fully automatic weapons, grenade
lauchers, tanks, helicopter gunships and all kinds of sophisticated
weaponry bought with the tax that those old men paid.

Not only would the U.S. version of the secret police probably pick up
most of them before they could fire a shot,

Well, that's impossible because we do not have a "secret police" force and
we take great pains to ensure that even the local police do not have access
to what records might exist on who owns what arms. That's the point of the
2nd Amendment. There are more than 300 million guns in private ownership in
the US, and the government has pretty much no idea whatsoever where the bulk
of those guns are or who has them. That's not a flaw in our system, it's a
feature specifically intended by the Framers.

but half of them would
probably die of heart attacks if they had to run 100 yards to cover.

Maybe. But then again, if even 50 million fat men with guns manage to kill
only one soldier apiece (not difficult at all, particularly if you're
willing to die in the process) we win, because the other feature of our
government is that we deliberately limit our standing army to levels that
cannot threaten the liberty of the people.

And even the issue of the National Guard and state guard forces has been
carefully thought out by the Framers. They said, and rightfully so, that a
local militia force, under locally-elected officers, would be unlikely to
agree to march to another state to impose martial rule.

That's why National Guard commanders are not appointed by the federal
government, but are selected by the Guard units themselves, ratified by the
Governor.

In the unlikely event that a demogog attempts a coup in the US, it is almost
impossible to get the bulk of citizen-soldiers in the various guard units to
go along with orders from Washington to violate the Constitution and oppress
the local citizenry...because the guard troops ARE the local citizenry and
they will simply refuse such orders. Indeed, they are far more likely to
refuse such illegal orders from Washington and then organize with other
state guard units to attack local federal troop concentrations and invade
Washington to put down the tyrant.

Even supposing federal soldiers seized all National Guard arms prior to
declaring martial law nationwide, our federal army is not large enough to
control the population...deliberately so...and the National Guard can be
re-armed with weapons *from civilians* that would make them an effective
fighting force against usurping federal troops.

This is particularly true because a would-be tyrant cannot afford to simply
carpet-bomb the very cities and populations he's trying to take control of,
so the war becomes a guerilla war waged by grunts in the field, not
high-tech standoff munitions.



Nah, I don't see that citizen uprising with privately owned weapons
happen... ever! :-)

That's what makes you a slave...the slave mentality. That was proven by your
nation's collaboration with the Nazis in WWII. Unless you're willing to die
to protect your freedoms, you don't deserve your freedoms.

On the other hand, at need, I have sufficient arms to arm at least three
soldiers with effective military battle rifles, along with a basic
ammunition load for each, while still having plenty of precision, long-range
weapons for my own use. I guarantee you that even if I can't dash a hundred
yards in 10 seconds, I can hit a human-sized target at ranges out to one
thousand yards with at least an 80% probability. Soon, I'll be extending
that effective range to closer to 1500 yards for humans and 2000 yards for
materials, with a somewhat smaller hit probability but a much wider target
destruction capability that includes unarmored and lightly-armored vehicles
and other equipment.

Should I be called upon to defend the Constitution and the nation, I
guarantee to take out at least one enemy soldier before they even know I'm
there, and probably several more before they can take me, if in fact they
can. There are a lot of people just like me out there...enough to ensure
that any invasion or attempt to overthrow our government is doomed to
failure, even without the cooperation of the National Guard.

You are free to disbelieve me if you like, but I'd recommend that you avoid
serving in the UN forces should it decide to try to take over America, if
you wish to survive. Remember the advice of military experts about
underestimating your enemy.

I would like to fill you in on an interesting bit of unknown military
history.

Back in the mid-70s, commanders of the Special Forces decided to do some
training in the northern part of Florida, near Jacksonville. They decided to
stage a training mission that called for a large group of special forces
personnel to "invade" the area around the Okeefenokee Swamp. They invited
local residents to participate as OPFORs (Opposing Forces) to oppose the
beach landing and infiltration. The locals were supplied with M-16's and
MILES gear, but otherwise they provided all their own equipment and
transportation. All they were told was that a landing would be taking place
somewhere within a specified area of beach.

To make a long story short, the locals wiped out the SF troopies. Kicked
their asses right back into the ocean, to the massive embarrassment of the
brass. It made the papers all over Florida, and I heard about it in college
in Daytona Beach.

Since then, no military training exercise has ever used local civilians as
OPFORS.

So, discount the abilities of US citizens to defend their country at your
peril.
--
Regards,
Scott Weiser

"I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on
friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM

© 2005 Scott Weiser