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Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdcad!amdahl!tron
From: tron@amdahl.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Re: Hand gun defense
Message-ID: <17026@amdahl.amdahl.com>
Date: Mon, 26-Oct-87 01:11:15 EST
Article-I.D.: amdahl.17026
Posted: Mon Oct 26 01:11:15 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Oct-87 06:26:28 EST
References: <4018@cc5.bbn.COM>
Reply-To: tron@amdahl.amdahl.com (Ronald S. Karr)
Organization: Amdahl Coup, UTS Products Hen house
Lines: 46

Well, somebody tried to make an intelligent response to my article
requesting some reasonably intelligent articles against gun control:

In article <4018@cc5.bbn.COM> denbeste@bbn.COM (Steven Den Beste) writes:
>On the other hand, from the long view of the society as a whole, I present the
>following two scenarios:
>
>1. The USSR invades the US and completely defeats the armed forces and turns
>the US into a police state. Now all they have to do is deal with 50 million
>angered citizens armed with hand guns and hunting rifles. The mind boggles at
>the difficulties this would present. Just look at the grief fifty thousand
>armed Afghanis are causing them, and multiply this by three orders of
>magnitude.

I don't see this as realistic.  The prospects of USSR successfully staging
a takeover of the United States are unrealistic, except from the somewhat
remote possibility of nuclear blackmail.  However, the Afghanis would be
nowhere without more advanced weopons systems, and so would American
citizens.  Fifty million Americans armed with handguns could possibly
keep a rebel resistance going for quite a while, but would be unlikely to
change the outcome without a good supply of antitank weopons or SAM
missiles.  Also, do you really suspect that in the case of nuclear blackmail
the entire US military would just give up?

>2. General Madman of the Army, Admiral Schizo of the Navy, General Powerhungry
>of the Airforce and General Maniac of the Marines, heads of their respective
>services, decide that the President and Congress are out of control; they have a
>military coup over the US government. Guess which 50 million angered citizens
>will prevent this?

It would take much more than a descision by the heads of the armed forces
to to stage a successful coup.  It would require backing by a large portion
of the officiers and other members of the military.  This can only happen
when members of the military are more loyal to their superiors than to
the American people or the US government.

Honestly, both of these situations are only likely in the movie theater
not the battle theater.

Next argument please.

	tron	|-<=>-|		ARPAnet:  amdahl!tron@Sun.COM
      tron@uts.amdahl.com	UUCPnet:  {hplabs,decwrl,sun}!amdahl!tron
-- 
[views above shouldn't be viewed as Amdahl views, or as views from Amdahl, or
 as Amdahl views views, or as views by Mr. Amdahl, or as views from his house]