Yhdysvalloissa on viimeisimpien joukkomurhien jälkeen käyty vilkasta keskustelua aselaeista (jälleen kerran). Eräs löysien aselakien kannattajien argumenteista on ollut, että aseistetut kansalaiset ehkäisevät parhaiten tyrannian syntymisen Yhdysvaltoihin ja myös mihin tahansa muuualle maailmassa.
Tässä kirjoituksessa (Second Amendment defenders misread history: Armed citizens did not win our freedom and would not protect it) Michel Lind argumentoi minusta hyvin tätä väitettä vastaan.
Yhdysvalloissa väljiä aselakeja kannattavat poliikot väittävät esimerkiksi, että Yhdysvaltojen itsenäisyys ja menestys olisi ollut kiinni aseistetuista kansalaisista:
Ja kansalaissodasta hän tokaisee:What does history tell us? To listen to the right-wing extremists who oppose rational gun controls, even those imposed on assault weapons, American political liberty has been won and preserved by armed citizens.
Wrong. If American independence had depended on citizen-soldiers with muskets, Queen Elizabeth would be our head of state today. George Washington’s army won the War of Independence with the aid of imported French weapons and supplies and money and French soldiers fighting on American soil. And his best soldiers tended to be well-trained regulars, many of them immigrant mercenaries who signed up for pay and land. The native farmers tended to drop out of the Continental Line to return to their farms.
The state militias performed poorly in subsequent American wars, as well. In the Mexican War, undisciplined militias antagonized the Mexican population so much, by rape, plunder and murder, that General Winfield Scott sent them home. Scott’s small but disciplined regular forces not only won the war but also the support of much of the Mexican public during the occupation.
Ja vielä orjuuden poistamisesta, joka onnistuttiin saamaan aikaan vain valtion väkivallalla uhkaamisen kautta. Vapaitten kansalaisten aseitetut joukot vastustivat sitä kiivaasti:Neither side in the Civil War depended solely on state militias. Both the U.S. and Confederate governments resorted to a draft. And the outcome of the war was determined by the greater industrial and military might of the North. The South had lots of bellicose farm boys skilled with guns. A lot of good it did for the Lost Cause. In the 20th century, the state militias were finally made useful by being federalized, in the form of the National Guard
Guns have never saved us Second Amendment defenders misread history: Armed citizens did not win our freedom and would not protect itOne last point — the two greatest expansions of personal liberty in American history, the abolition of slavery and desegregation, were enforced by the armed forces, over the objections of state governments and in the face of violence by certain armed citizens fond of gray uniforms or white hoods.
By Michael Lind (Salon, Monday, Dec 17, 2012)
Olen Lindin kanssa samaa mieltä. Vain se tosiseikka, että valtiolla on väkivaltamonopoli on johtanut tilanteeseen, jossa elämme ihmiskunnan historian rauhallisinta ja turvallisinta aikaa. Ne tahot jotka haluavat jälleen aseistaa tavalliset siviilit ovat suurin uhka rauhalle ja turvallisuudelle.