4 ms·

The best way to protect against tyranny is an armed population

scarejunba 7y ago
Yeah but I think I'll accept some low chance of tyranny for not getting shot in the face. Reckon I can handle dealing with the tyranny if it pops up, honest.
- hanniabu 7y ago
  The founding fathers would disagree
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- shpongled 7y ago
  I feel the exact opposite way - I'd rather risk the minuscule chance of being randomly shot than risk tyranny. Far, far more citizens were killed by their own governments each year in the 20th century (Some 2+ million) [1] than are killed by mass shootings (< 50) [2] or all guns [3] in the US every year. More people are killed with hands and fists, or with knives, or hammers than are killed with AR-15s, AK-47s or any other rifle in the United States every single year [3], yet we don't call for bans on those? By the statistics, even if widespread gun ownership only has a 0.0001% chance of preventing tyranny every year then it seems worth it Furthermore, how do you reckon you would deal with tyranny, if not with arms? [1] https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM [2] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-... [3] https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/table-20 https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-...
teddyuk 7y ago
In the uk we don’t have an armed population neither tyranny so are there alternatives?
- Chris2048 7y ago
  > neither tyranny We just ignore ("non-binding") referendums sometimes
  - ZeroGravitas 7y ago
    British tyranny sounds pretty polite, I'm not sure shooting anyone over this would really be considered an improvement. I mean someone did actually shoot and kill someone over just suggesting that people should vote in a certain way, and he's generally considered the bad guy in this interaction. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox
    - Chris2048 7y ago
      Ask the Irish how "polite" British tyranny sounds.
- BubRoss 7y ago
  Not that I agree that an armed population is the BEST way to avoid tyranny, but saying A helps avoid B isn't contradicted by saying 'we don't have A or B so that can't be true'
adrianN 7y ago
Most democracies today don't have an armed population.
watwut 7y ago
Which is quite ahistorical statement.
ZeroGravitas 7y ago
And yet the deep state managed to install a Kenyan communist as the President of the United States, even though Romney won the popular vote, and was only beaten by the phoney Electoral College and yet no one shot this tyrant even after future President Trump called for revolution on twitter: https://mashable.com/2012/11/06/trump-reacts-to-election https://mashable.com/2012/11/06/trump-reacts-to-election So the facts suggest it doesn't work that well.
- BubRoss 7y ago
  This is one of the most insane things I have ever read here.
  - dang 7y ago
    Please don't respond to a bad comment by feeding it, which just makes the thread even worse. Flag it instead. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

Yeah but I think I'll accept some low chance of tyranny for not getting shot in the face. Reckon I can handle dealing with the tyranny if it pops up, honest.

hanniabu 7y ago
The founding fathers would disagree
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
shpongled 7y ago
I feel the exact opposite way - I'd rather risk the minuscule chance of being randomly shot than risk tyranny. Far, far more citizens were killed by their own governments each year in the 20th century (Some 2+ million) [1] than are killed by mass shootings (< 50) [2] or all guns [3] in the US every year. More people are killed with hands and fists, or with knives, or hammers than are killed with AR-15s, AK-47s or any other rifle in the United States every single year [3], yet we don't call for bans on those? By the statistics, even if widespread gun ownership only has a 0.0001% chance of preventing tyranny every year then it seems worth it Furthermore, how do you reckon you would deal with tyranny, if not with arms? [1] https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM [2] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-... [3] https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/table-20 https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-...

teddyuk 7y ago

In the uk we don’t have an armed population neither tyranny so are there alternatives?

Chris2048 7y ago
> neither tyranny We just ignore ("non-binding") referendums sometimes
- ZeroGravitas 7y ago
  British tyranny sounds pretty polite, I'm not sure shooting anyone over this would really be considered an improvement. I mean someone did actually shoot and kill someone over just suggesting that people should vote in a certain way, and he's generally considered the bad guy in this interaction. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox
  - Chris2048 7y ago
    Ask the Irish how "polite" British tyranny sounds.
BubRoss 7y ago
Not that I agree that an armed population is the BEST way to avoid tyranny, but saying A helps avoid B isn't contradicted by saying 'we don't have A or B so that can't be true'

adrianN 7y ago

Most democracies today don't have an armed population.

watwut 7y ago

Which is quite ahistorical statement.

ZeroGravitas 7y ago

And yet the deep state managed to install a Kenyan communist as the President of the United States, even though Romney won the popular vote, and was only beaten by the phoney Electoral College and yet no one shot this tyrant even after future President Trump called for revolution on twitter: https://mashable.com/2012/11/06/trump-reacts-to-election https://mashable.com/2012/11/06/trump-reacts-to-election So the facts suggest it doesn't work that well.

BubRoss 7y ago
This is one of the most insane things I have ever read here.
- dang 7y ago
  Please don't respond to a bad comment by feeding it, which just makes the thread even worse. Flag it instead. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.