o_O.Q said:
so governments should just be able to do whatever they want with their citizens, with no resistance if they become despotic? |
First they already are despotic, (more or less depending on the country) and so far no civilian gun has stopped any of those anti-freedom endeavors. So this is a bad excuse to satisfy a primitive need to feel powerful by acquiring a weapon.
Second, like the other guy said, if the gov wants your hide, it can easily get it and no civilian weapons could stop it. Ask Hiroshima or Nagasaki Japanese civilians back in 1945 how their home weapons stopped the US from dropping nukes.
Third, there is an inherent contradiction between living in a peaceful nation and wishing to acquire weapons. That fundamentally makes no sense. Anymore than wanting to go to work in an office and dressing like you're going to the swimming pool. Or putting a costume to go to the swimming pool. In my country I want social rights, access to housing, quality hospitals, environmental policies, equality etc... In other words, I want the stuff that matters in peaceful times. Weapons are for war times. So again unless you believe you are at war, there is no good reason to wish to acquire actual weapons.
And finally if all these reasons don't get you thinking about how out of place weapons are in a peaceful society, think of all those mass shootings proving beyond any doubt that owning weapons is not only wrong, it's plain MAD!
