From an old cypherpunks post, I copied this when I read it with the intention of checking the facts, but never got around to it. Thought it was a good answer though.
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|>>down the routers or face 10+ years in prison. The government has wisely
|>>previously deprived the ISP's and their employees of owning machine guns
|>>of their own, thus compliance is assured.
|
|Their complience is assured because few ISP owners have Abrams Tanks
|apache atack helicopters, and are fresh out of boot camp.
|
|I always find that argument from pro gun owners stupid
|did anyone think red dawn was a reality?
|
|That any one person would be able to fight against the might of a government
|is a ludicrous thought
|
|ian
Remember the Warsaw getto uprising, remember Afganistan. Tyrants are cowards,
period.
5 percent of the population involved in militant tax protest is extremely
unlikely. The best possible
would be more like .001 percent. But that still is enough.
I remember a manhunt where the badguy had a double barreled 20 gauge. There
are no slug rounds or
buckshot shells available for that gun. Most you find at the store is #4,
more likely #7 1/2. Effective blood letting range is just a little under
a good softball throw. Folks in heavy coats with shooting glasses could
have thrown rocks at this guy untill he gave up. Cops came from
miles around to participate in the seige, and the news reported that
this murderer(true, he was a bad guy) was on a rampage and to stay inside
and lock the doors.
Lesson, one idiot with a near worthless weapon is practically as effective
at initiating civil disturbance as a terrorist cell with nonconventionals.
At .0001 percent, well practiced long range shooters with decent disipline
and a fire plan operating independently could cripple the day to day life
as we know it inside of a few weeks with relatively few shots.
The ATF stormed the Branch Davidians ranch with about 100 troops and air
support, all testamony aside, the empirical evidence that wasn't intentionally
destroyed by the FBI strongly suggests that the first shots fired was at
an unarmed David Koresh from a silenced hk-mp5sd wounding him and killing
his 2 year old daughter from the cab of the truck hauling the body of the
troops in the cattle car trailer. After the first shots marked the beginning
of the engagement, all the troops deployed spraying the entire housing area
of the compound with everything they had, they did manage to wound and kill
some of the adults and children and some of themselves. The BDs also managed
to return some fire, but a close look at the video shot by the news crews
shows no evidence whatsoever of any return fire on the 12 agents in plain
view to the news cameras and under very poor cover while they poured on
the firepower they had available. After the ATF had killed a few women,
children some of each other and expended all of their ordinance, they called for a cease fire, the BD's complied and allowed the shocktroops to retreat and collect their wounded and dead in complete safety. Of course, the rest
is history, the FBI took over and massacred the BDs in about a month putting
the whole issue to bed. The ATF (read tax collectors) had trained for days
for this, they were disiplined government shock troops qualified for the
mission. And they were beaten back, defeated by a dishomongenous bunch of
religious persons living in a communal group who were hardly trained at
all except at the level of being able to bring their guns into play. Their
days before had been spent in work, cooking, eating, reading, teaching,
sewing, cleaning, and other such activities that take up the day in a rural
farm. They had not spent 3 days in intensive drill to repel shock troops
armed to the teeth with the best weapons money can buy loaded with exotic
ammunition not available to the public, but that is what they did. And they did it decisively.
The M1 Abrams tank has its vunerablities, it depends on the presence of
other Abrams tanks to keep the crunchies (ground troops) off of it by hosing
each other down with machine gun fire. While it is true that the Abrams
can move like lightning across all kinds of terrain, it doesn't mean they
don't stop. Once stopped, or trapped, they are certainly vunerable to ground
assault if alone.
The Apache is an excellent weapons system, but even with all the star wars
fancy stuff, it is still a helicopter and all kinds of rabble have found
methods of fighting helicopters effectively enough to bring them down.
Your point that it is a ludicrous thought is well taken, but that doesn't
mean it can't be done. The gov is totally aware of this, hence the ever
mounting attacts on personal liberties and freedoms. "Make people bow low
enough and they will forget what it means to stand."