“People love conspiracy theories.” —Neil Armstrong
Not so much. Yes…The internet is awash with all sorts of conspiracy theories that spin tales of how the government is going to disarm the populace and tyranny shall rule the day. A considerable amount of what is out there amount to no more than “Tin-foiled hat-wearing” doomsayers who probably didn’t get enough attention, Ritalin or positive feedback as kids. It’s there.
But on the other hand, Some of the stuff is well-written and compelling enough to literally scare the “bejesus” out of impressionable young souls. Am I dismissing much of it? Yes. But not for the reason I state above.
Survival Blog makes some very good points. Points worth rehashing. There are in excess of 316 million privately-owned firearms in the U.S with less than 10 per cent documented via state registries. Up to 30 per cent have Form 4473s filed with the FFL dealers where they were first purchased, and the shelf life on such documentation is limited.
There are a great many guns in these United States. And I don’t care who you talk about, people do not easily give up their guns. Australia has roughly 4 million guns and their compulsory buyback program netted 640,000. 16 percent of all guns. Germany experienced similar results, as did the UK. I suspect an even lesser result in the United States were it to implement a gun grab, given our history and our gun culture. Citizens have the guns. And more citizens are buying guns….But lots of guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens does not amount to government respect and discomfort.
In July of this year, Small Wars Journal featured a article entitled, “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A “Vision” of the Future” The Authors, one a retired Army Colonel and the other a History Professor at Princeton, paint this fictional scenario where,
“In May 2016 an extremist militia motivated by the goals of the “tea party” movement takes over the government of Darlington, South Carolina, occupying City Hall, disbanding the city council, and placing the mayor under house arrest. Activists remove the chief of police and either disarm local police and county sheriff departments or discourage them from interfering.”
So now we have Military Hacks and Academics teaming up planning for scenarios on our home soil where the U.S. Military has to intervene because of an insurrection. The article is plain nutty and goes into lengthy detailed discussion of the considerations and contingencies of waging war against the Tea Party. The discussion is very technical, detailed and scary.
But…let us, for the sake of conversation, accept their premise. In reality, none of us have to be PhD graduates of Naval War College to understand Historical realities.
The Malayan insurgency, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir, Northeast India, Yemen, Djibouti, Colombia, Sri Lanka, and Democratic Republic of the Congo and (Soviet) Afghanistan, Vietnam and insurgencies faced in Iraq and Afghanistan most recentlyare all insurgencies of more or lesser degree.
Many People say that citizens cannot fight governments. It is those same folks who quickly forget Lexington and Concord, or the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan. Citizens most certainly CAN fight the government, and they usually win when they try.
An organized army does well when it fights against another organized Military. Fighting people is an entirely different metric and the government is at a disadvantage. When one looks at world today, it becomes clear that “guerillero” have the upper hand.
Given the deep-rooted American patriotism that has bolstered so many generations, How many active American service men and women will stand and take on their fellow citizens in a pitched battle? Many of these so-called insurgents served in the same Military forces. Many have the same training in weapons, tactics and skill, but are now civilians. Intelligence gathering against the populace by the Armed forces would be an absolute nightmare.
The American culture is smart, well-trained, educated and quick on its feet. Fighting an insurgency on American soil would be the downfall of all who brought such a plight. Americans would be far more armed and well-heeled than any other such insurgencies in the world.
It has been said countless times that nothing matches good old fashioned American know-how ingenuity, and self-reliance. How do these tin horn war college hacks factor that American will and might into their quixotic mix? It would be a blood bath. We, the insurgency could do a great deal with so little while the hack planners plan.
Certainly, it is neither noble nor desirable goal to wish for such circumstances, as the personal suffering and austere conditions brought about by such iniquities would be immeasurable. Truly evil is he or she that wishes this, but you hacks in DC, don’t think for one second that the people of this nation would not rise to the fight, it tyranny began to rule the day.
While some will read this and likely say, “Rick Olson is nutty!”….So be it. But, remember, I didn’t write, “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A “Vision” of the Future” A Military Planner and an academic did.
I still remain a skeptic. I say that it is unlikely to happen here, at least in my lifetime. But that is not to say it won’t, either.
