Can it happen here? Yes.
Will it happen here? It depends on what you are talking about.
If you are talking about terrorist attacks like Nice, the answer is obvious. It has already happened here. Remember 911. And the use of vehicles by Muslims to kill isn’t new either. Google it. One of the reports you will find from 2006 was at the University of North Carolina. And of course Orlando is fresh on our minds. It has happened and it will continue to happen. Our choice is in whether we have labeled gun free zones like Orlando where many Americans die or unlabeled armed citizen zones like in Texas where only terrorists die.
What about a military coup against the government? It could happen, anything is possible ,but we have a number of factors that make it unlikely. First of all any group of military officers who want to take over the country know how well armed the population is and how many citizens have served in the armed forces. While I concede that no citizen would have much chance against a group of special forces commandos, there are not enough of them to take over the country even if they agreed to follow illegal orders. The Second Amendment was there to keep such a thing from happening.
We also have an organization of the military that works against a coup. The rank and file of our armed forces are moved around from unit to unit enough that it would be hard to find the kind of blind loyalty to leaders that would make such a think workable. Soldiers swear allegiance to the
Constitution not their commanding officers. Historically regiments were made up of people from one area and recruited by a local celebrity. We don’t do it that way. In some countries a unit will have a tribal identity that leads to blind obedience. When you have a military unit of 1,000 with citizens from 35 different states is encourages national loyalty.
We have a tradition of civilian leadership. In most of the third world the political leaders have come to power by way of a military take over. It is the way things are done. No one is surprised. That is not the tradition of the West. Even a dictator like Hitler was elected by the people not selected from the ranks of the generals. It would be more likely for the president to declare martial law and suspend civil rights than for the military to step in and take over on their own. Of course some people are afraid Obama will try that but I remember the same fears about Clinton and I imagine the Democrats had the same panic about Regan and Bush.
Our soldiers are not just spear carriers. While I know that there are a fair share of knuckle draggers in uniform there are also a large number of well informed and educated Americans. They are patriotic and serve to guarantee liberty not to impose martial law. While education does not guarantee your motives or actions it can make you more aware of the issues and less likely to follow blindly.
Can it happen? Yes. Will it happen? I don’t expect it.
If you are worried, enlist and serve. Be part of the guarantee.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.