The weakest argument for gun ownership in the USA

[AussieGiant]

The budget for the DOD is about 600 billion dollars in 2010. Up around 4%.

The US military battle of order represent the single most devastating military force available on the planet by a factor of same considerable margin.

Owning a gun, to prevent a tyrannical government and its action against the populace, is entirely and utterly a distant second on the "To Do List" when it comes down to the bottom line.

The number one issue is....who is in command and control of the US military? If anyone thinks otherwise then they are on some serious drugs.

Not only does the US military have better guns, they have more, and they have far superior training.

Don't let insurgent success in Iraq and Afghanistan delude you. The reason they have success is because of the extremely restrictive rules of engagement placed on them by civilian governments.

If it was in fact left up to the military to simply achieve objectives, with far less regard for a number of "engagement rule" issues, like civilian casualties, weapon types available etc etc, I'd say the result would be far, far different. The consequence of course would be that no one would be able to sleep at night due to the horrors committed. However make no mistake, there would not be much of an insurgent force left in reality.

In the context of a tyrannical government and what that entails by definition, well then I'll leave it up to your collective imaginations as to what the military could be ordered to do.

It certainly is becoming ironic that the 2nd amendment, written in a vastly different time, in vastly different circumstances, is being upheld for those vastly out of date reasons. In contrast, the US government is currently in control of a military force that makes the civilian ownership of any type of weapons completely redundant.

Keep in mind that the personal weapon used at the time of the writing of the constitution was entirely similar to that of the military. A smooth bore musket. While the military at the time had the use of cannon that was the only real technological difference.

If we could time warp Lincoln to 2009, I'm sure the gentlemen would look at the USS Enterprise and then at the smooth bore musket and realise something was vastly out of date...that being the words written on the paper he signed.