Russian Invasion Offered Hard Lesson on Gun Control, Ukrainian Says

[Paladin]

Russian Invasion Offered Hard Lesson on Gun Control, Ukrainian Says

“A lot of people honestly believed [and] I was one of them: ‘Why would you need a weapon? We are not going to war, and if you are not a hunter … why do you need it?’”

But after the Russian invasion, “it appears we really do need it,” she said.

Melnyk described the cultural change toward caring about self-defense after Russia invaded. “It was nearly impossible to get a time slot at a shooting range because so many Ukrainians went in to learn how to actually handle a gun, because they have no idea,” she said.

This is where reality slaps uninformed or misinformed people right in the face. The RKBA is a fundamental human right.

[Rafe]

Russian Invasion Offered Hard Lesson on Gun Control, Ukrainian Says

“A lot of people honestly believed [and] I was one of them: ‘Why would you need a weapon? We are not going to war, and if you are not a hunter … why do you need it?’”

But after the Russian invasion, “it appears we really do need it,” she said.

Melnyk described the cultural change toward caring about self-defense after Russia invaded. “It was nearly impossible to get a time slot at a shooting range because so many Ukrainians went in to learn how to actually handle a gun, because they have no idea,” she said.

This is where reality slaps uniformed or misinformed people right in the face. The RKBA is a fundamental human right.

It's a wokeism fad now to discount the Founders as privileged, elitist, old white male colonizing oppressors. But guess what? Their genius continues to stand the test of time over 246 years later. Can anyone think of an act of large-scale genocide perpetrated by the sitting political or military authority of a country or region that was not preceded by either minimizing an armed populous or already having one that's unarmed? Offhand, I can't. From Kristallnacht and the Holocaust to the Holodomor to Cambodia in 1975 to Rwanda in 1994 to the Hutus massacres in the First Congo War.

To establish a monopoly on the use of force, a government must either convince its citizens not to rebel, or remove their capacity to do so.... The data confirm that disarmament was most likely where the government’s coercive leverage was limited – due to poor intelligence and potential backlash from collateral damage. In these otherwise challenging circumstances, disarmament significantly reduced rebel violence – short-term and long-term, locally and region-wide. By limiting the potential coercive resources under the opposition’s control, disarmament can render rebels unable to sustain a campaign of violence against the state.

Simple logic. The first step in an attempt at totalitarian control and oppression or eradication (i.e., "cleansing") is a monopoly on violence. A defanged population are sheep. A well-armed population are difficult to oppress, by forces either external or internal. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

[Jose_in_Dallas]

Another point to ponder. I can only imagine all the ranchers that own land along the Mexican border are probably armed and opposed to stricter gun laws. I can't imagine a better firearm to have handy along the border than an AR-15/10 variant.

[diverman26]

Most of my close friends are actually quite liberal. It's ok, they are never dismissive of my opinions nor I of theirs (mostly...)
However, I came across this quote years ago and it's still my favorite response during the eventual "That would never happen" phase of the 2A discussion:

"The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed -- where the government refuses to stand for re-election and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake free people get to make only once."
- Judge Alex Kozinski