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I find the asymmetrical warfare argument…weird. Afghanistan as a nation has been in a state of massive system failure for decades. Is that really the hope guns

I find the asymmetrical warfare argument…weird. Afghanistan as a nation has been in a state of massive system failure for decades. Is that really the hope guns offer? “If the government goes ballistic, our guns will ensure we end up like Afghanistan”?

lisivka 10y ago
What wrong with Afghanistan? They are still free after number of massive invasions.
- andrepd 10y ago
  "Afghanistan is an impoverished least developed country, one of the world's poorest because of decades of war and lack of foreign investment. As of 2014, the nation's GDP stands at about $60.58 billion with an exchange rate of $20.31 billion, and the GDP per capita is $1,900. The country's exports totaled $2.7 billion in 2012. Its unemployment rate was reported in 2008 at about 35%. According to a 2009 report, about 42% of the population lives on less than $1 a day." "A January 2010 report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime revealed that bribery consumed an amount equal to 23% of the GDP of the nation." What's wrong indeed.
  - CamperBob2 10y ago
    I don't think that Afghanistan makes a good citation for any side of a general argument about gun control policy in the US. Like s_m_t said, their geopolitical milieu is just too different to be relevant. (I'm tempted to say the same of their culture, but I don't really believe that, having grown up in a Bible Belt state.) However, the Afghan example does effectively rebut shadowfiend's specific point about guerilla warfare being ineffective against a superpower. They call Afghanistan the "Grave of Empires" for a reason, and it's not because they have a really awesome regular army. Now, in defense of shadowfiend, it's easy to show that he or she is wrong historically, but I suspect that technological development is beginning to favor state power. Guns or no guns, to be an effective guerilla you have to be able to blend in. But you can't really hide anymore... not in the jungles, not in caves, not in the streets and alleys and suburbs and slums, and not in cyberspace. I guess that's sorta our fault.
s_m_t 10y ago
For 2500 years their way of life has survived Alexander the Great, the Sassanids, Genghis Khan and the mongol hordes, the USSR, and possibly the United States. In that same time many other peoples have ceased to exist entirely. We may hold different values but we can learn from their longevity and resistance.

lisivka 10y ago

What wrong with Afghanistan? They are still free after number of massive invasions.

andrepd 10y ago
"Afghanistan is an impoverished least developed country, one of the world's poorest because of decades of war and lack of foreign investment. As of 2014, the nation's GDP stands at about $60.58 billion with an exchange rate of $20.31 billion, and the GDP per capita is $1,900. The country's exports totaled $2.7 billion in 2012. Its unemployment rate was reported in 2008 at about 35%. According to a 2009 report, about 42% of the population lives on less than $1 a day." "A January 2010 report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime revealed that bribery consumed an amount equal to 23% of the GDP of the nation." What's wrong indeed.
- CamperBob2 10y ago
  I don't think that Afghanistan makes a good citation for any side of a general argument about gun control policy in the US. Like s_m_t said, their geopolitical milieu is just too different to be relevant. (I'm tempted to say the same of their culture, but I don't really believe that, having grown up in a Bible Belt state.) However, the Afghan example does effectively rebut shadowfiend's specific point about guerilla warfare being ineffective against a superpower. They call Afghanistan the "Grave of Empires" for a reason, and it's not because they have a really awesome regular army. Now, in defense of shadowfiend, it's easy to show that he or she is wrong historically, but I suspect that technological development is beginning to favor state power. Guns or no guns, to be an effective guerilla you have to be able to blend in. But you can't really hide anymore... not in the jungles, not in caves, not in the streets and alleys and suburbs and slums, and not in cyberspace. I guess that's sorta our fault.

s_m_t 10y ago

For 2500 years their way of life has survived Alexander the Great, the Sassanids, Genghis Khan and the mongol hordes, the USSR, and possibly the United States. In that same time many other peoples have ceased to exist entirely. We may hold different values but we can learn from their longevity and resistance.