> Opportunity cost of gun control is negligible (as showcased by the rest of the world).
I don't call 100 million people murdered by their own governments within living memory "negligible".
I don't call 100 million people murdered by their own governments within living memory "negligible".
That's not to say that a modern military couldn't and wouldn't curbstomp a bunch of civilians with small arms in this day and age, but an armed civilian is at least slightly harder to tyrannically subjugate than an unarmed one.
Say a President uses the military to fight US civilians on US soil. He and anyone else involved in the plot would preside over a country not worth ruling. Because all their friends and family would be kidnapped and murdered by lunchtime.
Totalitarian regimes start as democratic state with huge popular support for big changes in law. They slowly change law stretching some laws beyond recognition, but still preserving popular support by mass spending, finding external or internal public enemies.
Before the country as a whole decide it's enough - it's far past the time for a revolution. Half of your friends support the authoritharian government and work actively to enforce it.
So far you seem to be a pessimistic outlier without solutions. This attitude is easily exploited by authoritarians.
They wouldn't defend anyone if coopted well enough.
Attribute virtue, even more so Democratic virtue to such a huge chunk of population sounds extremely naive.
You’re off in the rhubarb hallucinating about “Democratic virtue” which is a meaningless term and unrelated to a Republic based on laws.
They are much more likely to become authoritarian than to defend you from them :) May I remind you they are currently building a wall on the border and keeping children in concentration camps?
You simply don’t know Republicans. If any are on this site they are chuckling at your comment.
I digress. You seem interested in the southern border. The wall is currently made of tens of thousands of Mexican soldiers. Border walls are normal all around the world because they work.
As for children in Obama cages, everyone agrees this is wrong. This is why a wall is so important - there won’t be any illegal crossers to detain.
The same people who yell "ACAB" for some reason request that the government's jackbooted thugs step on their necks harder.
They achieved nothing and even the average citizen had enough of them few years in. They were only making life harder, stealing stuff to survive and causing property damage, and had no chances to win vs the army with tanks, aeroplanes, mines, and supply chains.
Now it's even more absurd. People pretending gun ownership protects them from totalitarianism are deluded.