Reply #158: What makes you think the military will just go along. [View All]

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The military takes an oath of loyalty to the Constitution, not Washington. If the government turns tyrannical their duty should be to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign AND domestic.

Also governors control the station national guards (which have everything from main battle tanks to helicopter gunships to precision fighter jets). There is no guarantee that every state would support the federal government.

The US military might would be of little use in asymmetrical warfare in its own cities, against its own workers. The US military has a very long logistical trail and there would be no safe "rear area". Munitions and parts made by Americans could be sabotaged by Americans. Large numbers of soldiers would desert, simply go home to protect their families or open fire on officers. The term fragging originated in Vietnam when enlisted used fragmentation grenades against their own officers. Heavy weapons would result in mass non-combatant casualties and destruction of vital infrastructure turning more soldiers against the effort and rallying civilians against the government.

Lastly nobody (not even the founding fathers) believed access to arms guarantees success. They simply believed with no arms a revolution is impossible.