Side story on the recent gun spree

[carl]

Col. Wyly doesn't address the ultimate question: Will Marines obey orders to shoot down their fellow Americans; or, are there some "tipping points" beyond which they will not go ?

Given that Marines have a strong tradition of following orders, I personally wouldn't bet on a "Marine mutiny". Nor, would I bet on an "Army mutiny". Thus, my preference for a Gene Sharp approach in addressing non-compliance.

Here is a link to a Naval Postgraduate School thesis done in the mid 1990s.

www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a293790.pdf

It was quite controversial at the time because question 46 asked this of about 300 serving Marines:

"The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-sporting firearms. A thirty day amnesty period is permitted for these firearms to be turned over to the local authorities. At the end of this period, a number of citizens groups refuse to turn over their firearms.

Consider the following statement: `I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government'."

They were then given 5 choices of response ranging from Strongly agree to no opinion.

On page 79 of the thesis the author states that about 26% of the Marines would fire on fellow citizens but about 66% would refuse. The author concluded that "The response to this scenario suggest that a complete unit breakdown could occur in a unit tasked to execute this mission."

That being said, there has been a real break in our USAian cultural framework. So, Slap and Carl are on to something there. That framework break also is material to this thread; but I have to write something offline - and think it over and re-write before posting. Wouldn't want Kiwigrunt to call it "drivel". That word reminds me of Wilf (too bad he's too busy elsewhere).

As I keep saying, Charles Murray has a lot to say about that break in the cultural framework in his book Coming Apart, though the book mainly demonstrates the extant and growing gap between the superzips and the rest of us. He doesn't get much into what it might mean for the future. Question 46 might give an inkling about what might happen if things go badly awry. (It also concerns me that cultural and political differences are lining up geographically and regionally.)