The right to bear arms?

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "orionaut"
> --- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "victoriatangoman"
> wrote:
> > Shall the citizens of the Habitats have the right to bear arms
in
> > order to prtect their property and to counterbalance the power
of
> > their government?
>
> If a habitat is unwise enough to HAVE what we today think of as "a
> government" (rather than a rigorously limited "night-watchman"
> administration the role of which is strictly coordinative rather
> than "political"), then HELL YEAH, its inhabitants had BETTER have
> weapons. For the very same reasons that we have them Down Here.

Cutting through the jingoism, what good are the weapons in the hands
of Americans doing with respect to curtailing the government? I
don't see the government restrained by fear of popular armed
uprising. So, if the weapons aren't working Down Here, why will they
work to that effect in orbit?

This whole libertarian utopia really needs a massive rethink in
order to bring its prescriptions into congruence with reality.

TangoMan