Vilham wrote:
Deadmonkiefart wrote:
Vilham wrote:
You have the highest military budget in the world... when would you ever need to form a militia?
China
Sorry to say but 3 or 4 tanks would decimate a whole milita. 100 trained soldiers would most likely take down atleast 1000 militia. As a militia man you aint going to be decked out in full army gear, thats body armour, ammo, best gun available, etc.
But the thing is, look at Iraq. Thats proof that Tanks cant just decimate whole "Militias".
You have to remember, our "Militias" during the Revolutionary War were in fact using guerilla tactics similar to insurgents in Iraq today (albeit lack of roadside bombs). And we beat the British, no?
Some people (please dont flame) would say we are losing in Iraq to the "militias" there.
Therefore, Militias are still effective. Another example: Vietnam War, when the local populace rose up against us. We might have crushed them immediately, but it still made a huge impact (news media, our realization that it was what the people wanted/people thought they wanted).
As for the origional question, militias back in the day were made up of civilians. The 2nd Amendment is there so that we can rise up against an oppressive government much like we did in the revolutionary war. If we did not have the right to bear arms, it would be like a 1984-style country, where no matter how many people rebelled, they would die because they would have no weapons.
The 2nd Amendment is there so that if the democracy is not serving the needs of the majority of its citizens, the citizens can retaliate. "You wont help our needs? We will force you too."
A check & balance between citizens and government, if you will.
So if individuals were not allowed to have arms, then yes crime would go down. Not disappear though. But then the citizens have lost all the power to protect themselves against an oppressive government.
Last edited by Last1Standing (2006-12-12 16:55:55)