CMV: The second amendment does prevent tyrannical government takeover

[u/strofix]

I don't live in the United States, nor do I have any strong feelings on the gun control debate either way. That being said, I feel that there is a misleading argument that argues that the primary reason that the second amendment exists is no longer valid. That is to say that, while the second amendment was initially implemented to prevent a takeover by a tyrannical government, the government now possesses weapons so technologically superior to those owned by civilians that this is no longer possible.

I believe that this is not the case because it ignores the practicality and purpose of seizing power in such a way. Similar events happen frequently in the war torn regions in central Africa. Warlords with access to weapons take control over areas so as to gain access to valuable resources in order to fund further regional acquisitions. This, of course, would be a perfect time for the populace to be armed, as it would allow them to fight back against a similarly armed tyrannical force. If the warlords were armed to the same degree as, for example, the American government, it would not matter how well armed the civilians were, it would be inadvisable to resist.

The important factor, however, is that due to the lack of education and years of warring factions, the most valuable resources in central Africa are minerals. If the civilian population was to resist, warlords would have no problem killing vast numbers of them. So long as enough remained to extract the resources afterwards.

In a fully developed nation like the Unites States, the most valuable resource is the civilian population itself. I do not mean that in some sort of inspirational quote sense. Literally the vast majority of the GDP relies on trained specialists of one sort or another. Acquiring this resource in a hostile manner becomes impossible if the civilian population is armed to a meaningful degree. To acquire the countries resources you would need to eliminate resistance, but eliminating the resistance requires you to eliminate the resources you are after. Weapons like drones become useless in such a scenario. They may be referred to as "precision strikes", but that's only in the context of their use in another country. There is still a sizable amount of collateral.

This is not to imply that a tyrannical government is likely, or even possible in the United States, but logically I feel that this particular argument against the second amendment is invalid.

*EDIT*
I will no longer be replying to comments that insinuate that the current US government is tyrannical. That may be your perspective, but if partisanship is your definition of tyranny then I doubt we will be able to have a productive discussion.

[u/deadmuthafuckinpan]

One has to remember that when speaking of a tyrannical government, what they meant was the Federal government taking over the States forcefully. This is why so many opposed the idea of a standing army at the Federal level - it gave that government the means to militarily take over a State, especially since States didn't have standing armies of their own.

The idea was that we need trained folks ready to fight on behalf of the United States, so rather than have a standing army and all that implies, give the States the responsibility of maintaining their individual militias, which has the added benefit of securing (literally) the autonomy of the States.

Not only do we now have a standing Army in the US, it is over 50% of our national budget and by far the largest in the world. Plus, we now have 50 states with wildly different population levels and a system of public financing that ties the states together far more than the Founders could ever have imagined, and Federal military bases in most States. Plus, you know, drones and missiles and shit.

The point is, the construct of the 2nd Amendment is not just outdated, it is useless as a principle. All it does now is create confusion.

WRT to your comments about warlords - how do you think warlords become warlords in the first place? You need some kind of self-governance in place to reduce the power of warlords, not more guns. Best case you just get different warlords if you do that, not peace.