[citation needed]

It's not exactly an unusual claim, and it was very much the loudly espoused position of the Republican Party until, well, last week.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United...

> In Federalist No. 46, Madison wrote how a federal army could be kept in check by the militia, "a standing army ... would be opposed [by] militia." He argued that State governments "would be able to repel the danger" of a federal army, "It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops." He contrasted the federal government of the United States to the European kingdoms, which he described as "afraid to trust the people with arms"...

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hollandheese 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This was posited as the nice sounding reason for the second amendment, when the more accurate reason was to ensure citizens had guns to drive out the indigenous peoples and steal their lands.

We rather quickly saw the federal government rolling over the people even with weapons in the Whiskey Rebellion.

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2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

[deleted]

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ceejayoz 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't disagree.

But it's still very funny seeing the Right wrestle with "wait, the other team has guns?!" and "wait, Trump sounds like he wants gun control?!" right now when this claim has been the basis of their argument for decades.

	▲	awesome_dude 11 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		To be fair, the right struggle with the argument every time it's put to the test. I recall the 2016 shootings of Dallas Police Officers and the right were apoplectic about the individual https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micah_Xavier_Johnson
	▲	hollandheese 12 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Yeah, it is quite funny.
	▲	moogly 11 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		They wrestled with it for about 5 minutes, then got the memo, shrugged and resumed to deep-throat the boot.

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cmrdporcupine 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Don't forget the very profound usefulness of a "well-armed militia" in putting down slave rebellions and catching escaped slaves.

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OhMeadhbh 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

In 46, Madison was discussing foreign danger in response to Hamilton in 29. but... thx for providing a citation. That's a much better response to downvoting.