RE: Mark My Words: American Civil War 2.0
Pretty sure this is in direct response to the proposed legislation against any group firearms training. Such acts as a range day with friends could be labeled felonious militarism. Forgive me, the specific language escapes me, but it's something like that.
DTOM has always been a battle cry, hasn't it? While you're right in pointing out the imbalance of unarmed anti-gunners, what about the imbalance of less-armed pro-gunners? I do hope your opinion here is a tad overblown; I don't want to see a war over this. There wasn't war over the Bundy uprising, which I think was far more pressing, so I doubt anything will come of it. But recognize the weight of the old addage: the pen is mightier than the sword. In the case of legislation, the pen always carries the weight of violence. Legally protected violence against anyone that defies it. What recourse is there against that, when any minority group is overpowered by a vote of the majority? Sit-ins are a toss up, sometimes you get a civil rights act, sometimes you get shot, sometimes you get maced until you shut up and leave. An armed sit-in seems a much better idea with those odds.
There are ways, as you acknowledge, to balance the issue of firepower if needed. Plenty of legal loopholes and other means (laughably discounting the fact that legality should go straight out the window in such a circumstance). I don't think the government would have as much of an upper hand.
This is an interesting talk to have, and I think having it between level headed people is the way to avoid any negative outcomes. But there is a serious lack of level headed people to have it because guns are such a divisive topic.
Oh gawd, @nateonsteemit, so do I. And maybe it is. I think an event would have to happen that suddenly escalates tension, like a Trump impeachment. I personally know several Appalachians who'd happily riot over that development. Heck, the whole Commonwealth of Virginia is up in arms over politically co-morbid issues right now. Second Amendment Sanctuaries are popping up all over the state. But those are a form of passive resistance, an effective and legal countermove, a far cry from organizing an active militia. I will believe until (hopefully) proven otherwise that tensions are so high in certain parts of the U.S. right now that it wouldn't take much to send good ol' boys into the streets waving guns. I mean, it kinda happens in Appalachia already...I could tell you stories. Put deep emotion behind this, and it spells trouble.
I am, by the way, unwaveringly supportive of the move to introduce more firearms training for all age groups, including schoolkids. If guns are a way of life--and in the Southern U.S. they are a quite prominent way of life--then effective instruction on their use is critical. Believe you me, effective instruction for anything is not being passed from parent to child in that part of the country. I wrote an entire book about that and you can find it here. The ebook is free right now so this isn't an attempt to sell you something. But I lived the social decay in Appalachia firsthand for over a decade, and out of all the regions in the nation to organize an active militia, that is by far the most volatile and untempered one.