🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov2.105013.21270@genie.slhs.udel.edu> starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr) writes:
>Widely distributed firearms ownership is an insurance policy against tyranny.

Give me a break. This hasn't been a realistic view for well over a
century, if in fact it was ever true at all. Consider the Civil War as
a failed attempt by the South to exercise your "insurance policy". All
it did was kill well over half a million Americans, lay ruin to a good
part of the country, and wreck the economy in the rest. And almost 130
years later, the scars are still apparent in places.

The government has progressed a bit in its weaponry since then, too.
What are you going to do with your pistols, fend off an entire squadron
of A-10s? To quote Anon 7 from a Classic Trek episode: "I had no idea
you were so... formidable." Get real!

With all you raving gun nuts coming out so strongly in favor of
private encryption, the cause won't need very many enemies. Not only
are your "guns == crypto" fantasies scaring many people into thinking
all who use encryption must be dangerous loonies, you're also selling
crypto short.

That's because I firmly believe that crypto is a *much* stronger
weapon against tyranny than any mere projectile-shooting weapon ever
was. Just as the pen is mightier than the sword, the personal
computer, fax machine and telephone have proven themselves stronger
than the entire police and military resources of many modern
totalitarian regimes.  After all, the people of eastern Europe finally
accomplished what the entire Western military-industrial complex was
never able to do, and with almost no lost lives.  And strong
cryptography will ensure that these purely defensive "weapons" will
remain potent in the hands of the people.

Phil