2nd Amendment gun nuts think someday they will be called on to put down tyranny. The problem is...

[Ohioboy]

the average gun nut is more likely to become an accessory to tyranny than any other person, especially if they are the type of person who would follow someone like Trump and support democracy killing ideas such as "the big lie".

On January 6, 2021 we had a whole lot 2nd Amendment gun humpers show us just how willing they would be to follow the whim of one man so that he could remain in power contrary to our Constitution.

These people wouldn't know actual tyranny if it hit them in the face. To them "tyranny" is being told to wear a mask at the grocery store during a pandemic.

[dalton99a]

1. Tyranny is whatever their beloved tyrant doesn't like.

[Irish_Dem]

2. The 2nd A gun nuts are the tyranny.

We are now forced to protect ourselves from them.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

23. I'd upvote 100 times

if I could. Your comment is so spot-on!

[SunSeeker]

25. Exactly. nt

[Bristlecone]

31. I was just going to post this same thought. They are the tyrants

[lastlib]

39. Years ago, I saw an editorial cartoon.....

...showed a news anchor holding his hands in the air; to one side was an arm/hand holding a pistol to the anchor's head, on the other side was a rifle barrel similarly pointed. Caption was the anchor guy saying, "And now, an opposing viewpoint from the NRA." How prescient that was! We really are hostages of the gun fiends. It's time to end it. Today would be good. Last Monday would've been better.

[Irish_Dem]

45. Yes they are going to terrorize America until they get everything they want.

We are seeing the GOP agenda and it is an ugly one.

[doc03]

3. The way I understand the well regulated malisia was to

defend our government not use against the government.

[SergeStorms]

10. Doesn't the National Guard...

make the need for a "well regulated militia" obsolete?

[WarGamer]

13. correct.

[lastlib]

40. "A well-regulated militia,,,,

...being necessary for the security of a free state,....

[SergeStorms]

51. Each State has its own....

National Guard troops. The Governor of each state controls them. Abbott has the Texas National Guard at the border, doing nothing.

[WarGamer]

12. No. Read Hamilton and Federalist #29.

[SunSeeker]

30. The 2nd Amendment absolutely was meant to protect the government.

Ultimately, Hamilton argues, the militia will be used to defend a "neighboring State" from a "common enemy" or to "guard the republic against the violence of faction and sedition". By its nature, the militia will not be easy for the federal government to abuse, and will instead act as a check on tyranny.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_No._29

The way it was to act as a check on government tyranny was to prevent a military dictatorship by obviating the need for a standing army. Our Founding Fathers naively thought State/National Guard units/militia would be enough to defend the country. Alas, the 2nd Amendment was obsolete soon after it was written. It quickly became clear no modern country could avoid a standing army, which we have had pretty much since shortly after becoming a country, along with our State/National Guard.units.

But Republicans took this zombie amendment and repurposed it to create a private uninfringeable right to own guns via 1987's Scalia opinion in Heller.

[WarGamer]

32. Sure, but it was both. They were CLEARLY setting up a hedge vs a possible Future Fed Gov't.

So you're saying "protect the government..." unless it itself needed to be destroyed.

Yeah, Hamilton meant it both ways.

[SunSeeker]

41. It was never meant to be a private army to fight our government.

Otherwise it Hamilton would not have said it was to put down "sedition." You can't both fight sedition and be a seditionist.

The militias were a preventative measure to avoid military coup d'etat ...by not having a military.

If you're talking about destroying the government, you're talking about sedition.

[WarGamer]

42. ok...

1) I never said it was a private army, don't know where you got that. Today I'd call it the national guard.

2) If a future gov't were to "go rogue" the militias would be obliged to defend against it.

An example I used earlier...

It's 1798 and a New US POTUS allies with England promising to switch loyalty to England and forms a standing Federal Army to enforce it... the Constitution lays out what happens next and quite obviously... lol... the discussion of sedition or treason is quite moot.

Part of the function of the "militia" was to defeat a Federal Gov't that broke with Constitutional standards.

[AndyS]

4. If the founders had wanted the 'militia' to be able to overthrow what they had just

struggled to create (not likely) why does Article 3 Section 3 of the constitutions say:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

[Ohioboy]

7. Yep

And, why does Article 1 section 8 say that the militia can be called on by Congress to put down insurrections?

[WarGamer]

11. It's clear that the founders didn't trust a future Federal Gov't

They DID establish a "break glass in case of emergency" case for State militias to fight a future Fed standing army.

Hamilton says as much.

How that applies today, of course... who knows.

[Ohioboy]

21. They did, but Jefferson spells out that it never be done trivially

Today gun nut it trained to see tyranny everywhere.

[WarGamer]

24. Absolutely...

it was "break glass in case of emergency" and it was the militia that would act... translated to today... the State National Guard.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

49. In Jefferson's words...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

[Ohioboy]

53. Don't stop there. He goes on to say:

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.


Today's so-called patriot's bring their guns to mask protests during a pandemic. The things they think are tyranny are perfectly defined as light and transient causes.

[halfulglas]

5. The tyranny of mandatory innoculations to save ourselves and others.

Hell, most gun nuts don't acknowledge that upon entering most western towns it was mandatory that they check their guns. They did not have "open carry" once they got to town. The "wild" west was the ones who didn't require checking the guns and that's why they were so dangerous to visitors and the people who lived there.

[unblock]

6. Their idea of tyranny is minorities being treated with respect and dignity

[NickB79]

8. Every guy I've met with that mindset

Is over 40, overweight and breaks a sweat tying their shoes.

But yeah, you're gonna go toe to toe with a few Marines. Yeah, sure.

[SoonerPride]

16. Much less a shoulder fired missile

Or tank

The idea that these cosplay morons could fight our army is beyond ludicrous.

[NickB79]

19. Can a Rascal outrun an A-10 Warthog?

[Historic NY]

28. Mabe a jazzy can

[link:|]

[slightlv]

9. I agree with you, Nick

I've got a gun humper with bad anger management issues living behind me. Threatens me and my cats every chance he gets. Actually gets red in the face every time he has to go get the mail. I wish he'd have the heart attack his body keeps threatening him with. He's suppose to be fixing up his house to move. While I hate wishing him on the neighborhood he'd be moving into, I do want to see him out of ours. He makes this place a horrible place to live. Have a feeling his own wife even had the cops called on him the other night, since we saw them "talking" to him in his front yard, with him on his knees. Face as red as usual. Expletives coming out and being heard neighborhood-wide, as usual. Gods, this man is a poor excuse for a man. Thinks everything can be "taken care of" with curse word and a gun.

[lees1975]

14. What tyranny?

Point to it and show us where it is. There's no tyranny there's just selfishness and wanting to have everything their way.

[Thomas Hurt]

15. The US military is more likely to throw in with the Pig and his agenda than with the "libs"...

to bring tyranny to the country. Makes for a nice christofascist fearmongering fantasy to promote the agenda of installing a dictator and making this country the Christian Republic of the United States though.

[randr]

17. The problem is that they are not

WELL REGULATED

[IronLionZion]

18. They talk about it and think about it all the time

a lot of them really want to shoot someone. They would love to get an excuse.

[Paladin]

20. Hey, DU Old-Timers: Remember the lecture we used to get from the Gun Enthusiasts?

The one that went: The sacred Second Amendment isn't about hunting, oh no no no no no NO! It's about arming regular citizens so they can fight against the forces of governmental tyrany!

That one used to turn up every few days---until the trump regime assumed power. After that, we didn't see much about taking up arms against an out-of-control federal government. The events of 1-6-2021 put that mystery to rest.

[FailureToCommunicate]

33. Yes, so true. And right after mentioning OUR government, they'd throw in "Putin will...

NEVER invade America, because he knows that behind EVERY tree is a patriot with a gun!"

Yeah, I'm sure Putin would be quaking in his boots about that possibility.

Also, I doubt many of those overweight slobs, like showed up on January 6th, could even manage to stay hidden behind trees.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

22. I think we're paying the price for allowing them to vilify education.

We never seem to push back because it doesn't seem necessary. It's obvious to us that education is vitally important in maintaining a healthy civilization. Sadly that is not in their interest. But an odd version of Christianity has taken root that rejects knowledge.

They've successfully politicized education to the detriment of us all. And then you add this bizarre war we're in with Putin and we cant agree on anything.

Right now we need young, healthy minds working to solve our woes. And truth denialism just won't cut it.

[slater71]

26. They are standing back and standing by on Trumps orders.

[tanyev]

27. It's another aspect of bullies crying that they're victims, which they also regularly do.

[Martin Eden]

29. EXACTLY

Those rightwing gun nuts stand a lot closer to Nazis than to our nation's Founders.

[kairos12]

34. Cargo Pants Commandos

F. them. Can’t carry ammo because their pockets are filled Moon Pies.

[Magoo48]

35. Hey, easy there, I wear cargo pants.

And, cargo shorts. I put all,y old man gear in the pockets.

[albacore]

36. The "right of insurrection" keeps rising from the dead.

Fighting against tyranny.... to Those People...means dissatisfaction with an election.
When Lincoln was elected in 1860, the South didn't like it. So much so that they attacked Federal installations.
That made them... by Constitutional definition... traitors.

Lincoln wanted "... malice toward none,with charity for all..." Maybe he should have hanged some of the chief traitors as an object lesson to the others... and the future.

Remember Nuremberg?

We've been re-fighting the Civil War since Appomattox... and it the descendants of those traitors want to take up arms against the US, maybe it is time for the object lessons to be demonstrated.

[ymetca]

37. We have tyranny in some of our states right now

... and it's gonna take the Pussy Riot Brigade to bring them down!

[peppertree]

38. One of their favorite hashtags is #2ndAmendmentJustInCase - that's EXACTLY what they're referring to

Usually misspelled though.

[fescuerescue]

43. The January 6th insurrectionsist should be prosecuted for every single gun law they violated that da

I don't understand why every single one hasn't been prosecuted for violating the DC and Federal building gun bans.

Why are they being protected and by whom?

[Ohioboy]

44. I've read they purposely kept the guns just outside of DC, at the ready in case they needed them

I certainly hope this is part of the investigation and we learn more next month when the committee hearing start going public.

[former9thward]

52. Who had a gun?

[fescuerescue]

54. most of them

you just don't over throw a capital building without a gun.

[former9thward]

55. There have been no allegations any had a gun.

So, I repeat, who had a gun?

[fescuerescue]

56. I really don't know why you want to defend these people who tried to start a civil war.

[former9thward]

57. You said they had guns.

You also said they should be charged with having guns. Ok, fine. I am asking a simple question which you decline to answer. Since no one has alleged anyone had guns then who is it that had a gun? Why won't you answer?

[maxrandb]

46. It's insanity! Have these Dipshits ever seen a Marine Expeditionary Unit in action?

Or a Carrier Air Wing?

I don't care how many ARs they can strap around their pasty fat asses, they'd be turned to pink vapor in a second.

[roamer65]

47. Gun nuts are usually fascists.

Most of them love Agent Orange, so that makes them fascists.

[maxrandb]

48. The fucking 101ST Chairborne!

It's why I wish they had tried their January 6TH shit at Camp Lejune instead of DC

[ChoppinBroccoli]

50. We Just Lived Under A Tyrant For 4 Years

I guess they were too busy shaking pom-poms at him to overthrow him with their popguns.

[Meowmee]

58. They are the source of tyranny nt

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

59. Well, they could go help put down tyranny in Ukraine but that might be

a little too REAL for them....

Besides.... their heads would explode because over there the democratic socialists are the good guys.