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Protester shot in chest by live police round during Hong Kong protests

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628 points nodea2345 | 1 comments | 01 Oct 19 11:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.704s | source
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nvahalik ◴[01 Oct 19 13:30 UTC] No.21125093[source]▶
> Imagine if the US suddenly had a dictator

This is why we have the second amendment. And the constitution as the thing to which office-holders swear allegiance to rather than to "the party" or "the president".

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Fezzik ◴[01 Oct 19 15:03 UTC] No.21126073[source]▶
I always find this sentiment a little silly - if the US President went in to full dictator mode and had the support of the military, do you really think a militia of armed citizens would be anything but gnats against the windshield of the United States Armed Forces? And if s/he did not have the support of the Armed Forces, it would not be a very effective dictatorship and you would not even need guns for a rebellion. I truly do not get it.
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bhupy ◴[01 Oct 19 15:04 UTC] No.21126088[source]▶
The US (with its support of the military) has been at war in the Middle East for nearly 2 decades now with insurgents.

The argument is not that a rebellious citizenry will necessarily win a war, it's that it will draw out a bloody civil war so long and so expensive as to be a form of mutually assured destruction, the risk of which acts as a check in and of itself.

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josephdviviano ◴[01 Oct 19 15:21 UTC] No.21126327[source]▶
The fact is that the dictator would still win. The rebellious citizenry would live a life of absolute misery, just as those in the middle east do.

The 2nd amendment made a lot of sense when weaponry consisted of horses and rifles, not computer-guided missiles. If there was ever a true US dictator, the 2nd amendment would mostly be used by the oppressed to rob, attack, and oppress one another.

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tenaciousDaniel ◴[01 Oct 19 15:42 UTC] No.21126634[source]▶
I just don't see any historical evidence that superior weaponry always wins, whereas there are plenty of examples to the contrary. So I don't know why it's a "fact" that the dictator would still win.
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enraged_camel ◴[01 Oct 19 16:00 UTC] No.21126912[source]▶
Except the US military doesn't just have superior weaponry. It also has superior training, superior discipline, superior logistics, superior intelligence, superior force projection capability, superior everything.

Unlike the Taliban or the Viet Cong, the US citizenry, even armed, would be like chaff.

edit: so many downvotes. I guess I hit a sore spot. I'm sorry the truth hurts, guys and gals. :)

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1. jki275 ◴[01 Oct 19 16:42 UTC] No.21127515[source]▶
The US citizenry includes an absolute fuckton of former military.

You're simply wrong, it's not "the truth".