What would an armed society be like?

[David spargenator]

This thought just came to my mind and made me wonder. What would it be like if you had to carry a gun with you in public. And if you got caught with no gun you could go to jail. Doesn't matter what kind of gun it is, it just has to work. What would this armed society be like?

I personally think it'd be the end of things like terrorism, and shootings, but you'd have every day arguments escalate way out of hand. Billy gets drunk and gets in a fight with jimmy, you know the rest. I also think that some people will be carful about being polite and not starting fights, while others will be kinda cocky because they feel safe because they have a gun.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what your opinions are. It just sounds like an interesting scenario to me. What would this armed society be like?

 

[Librarian]

One speculation is found in Robert A. Heinlein's Beyond This Horizon - the source of the oft-seen quote "an armed society is a polite society".

 

[HiBC]

The thing about it is,what you suggest is still tyranny.

I am skeptical that an armed and free society would tolerate imprisonment for being unarmed.

Now,a gentleman named Neil Smith...I recall sitting on his couch looking at a Mauser HSC pistol ...early 70's?.Perhaps Librarian had heard of him.He wrote a book "The Probability Broach"

Interesting read!!

Parallel dimension...being armed to look out for each other was a social responsibility,Libertarianism in that fire,police,etc were subscribed services,like paying for trash pickup.

As in "Planet of the Apes",Apes were sentient citizens.

I read it about 40 years ago,likely rare.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

One speculation is found in Robert A. Heinlein's Beyond This Horizon - the source of the oft-seen quote "an armed society is a polite society".

Yeah, I always like how the gun folks only quote the part of the sentence they like and leave out the explanatory part that provides the context for the first part seen above.

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

In other words, people live in constant fear that some sort of social misstep by them may rile another armed person so much that they have to defend their lives for is. Basically, what it is saying is...

An armed society is a scared society.

It is an unrealistic work of fiction.

 

[Tom Servo]

And if you got caught with no gun you could go to jail.

In modern practice, we wouldn't see any real support for such a law. Some cities have laws on the books mandating firearms ownership, but they're not enforced. In one recent case, a town in Georgia quickly went back on such an ordinance when they were sued over its constitutionality [pdf].

That said, in colonial times, ownership and maintenance of firearms was mandatory for property-owning males. Musters were routinely held in which arms and ammunition were inspected for readiness.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

The society in Heinlein's book was not a pleasant one. Folks should read it. It was a sexist, genetically based autocracy or tyranny.

The main hero debated dropping carry as he thought the posturing (politeness) was stupid at times.

 

[JERRYS.]

a truly armed society like in 1875 would have a period of adjustment where the stupid would be killed because they are sheep, the criminals will be killed because there are those who are not sheep, then there will a period of yes ma'am, thank you sir, good morning, allow me, after you, and so forth.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Geez - this doesn't need to continue.

Closed.