🚀 go-pugleaf

Gun control seems to be another slippery fish.  Personal beliefs are hard to
change.  

A new twist: Imagine if the citizens of China had ready access to guns. 
             Maybe that failed revolution would've gone differently, for
             better or worse.

             Remember the protestor in Tien Ah Mien (sp?) square who stood
             politely in front of the tanks?  The peaceful approach has
             worked before (Ghandi, Gorby), but this time it didn't.
             I wonder how polite that protestor would have been if he had 
             had a rocket launcher. 

Of course, a totalitarian state is not going to let unauthorized people
have guns, not to mention artillery.  Is the possibility of our government
becoming totalitarian a good reason to keep guns legal? Is outlawing guns one
of the first steps a governmment must take to remove all our rights?

Then again, would handguns do any good?

Last but not least: Advocating the violent overthrow of our government is
                    illegal (supposedly, any references on this?).

If our government deserves to be overthrown, is violence justified?
(If you answer no, what about the American revolution?)
(Please don't mention voting; I know we replace our gov't by voting now,
but what if it were fixed or removed for "security/emergency" measures?)

There are two side to this very sticky issue, and I'm stuck on both.  My
inclinition is that I dislike gun control a little more than I dislike guns.