The idea was that an armed citizenry would be far stronger than any army the Government could pay for.
I suspect that it would take quite a while for the idea of nuclear weapons to take hold. It is rather hard to determine how they would handle it. They might well want the State governments to have and control them.
I suspect that it would take quite a while for the idea of nuclear weapons to take hold. It is rather hard to determine how they would handle it. They might well want the State governments to have and control them.
I'm fairly comfortable with the current state of affairs, if you can afford one you can have one. It's just that they aren't really very useful if your aren't a nation state (read gang of armed thugs convinced of your moral superiority).
Guns obviously have self-defense purposes and a citizenry armed with guns can keep government in check.
I don’t see how a tactical nuke could possibly provide for self-defense. If anything, I’d see a nutcase obtaining one and killing thousands. If a nutcase gets a gun, you can shoot him. But if he detonates a nuke, its too late for anything to be done about it. A warship is similar to a nuke in those respects. That’s why I’m surprised to hear about how it was legal for private citizens to own them.