>> Okay, so what happened at Kent State?
Good question. My opinion: there will *always* be the possibility of isolated events, but I don’t think our current voluntary military has the stomach for widespread military violence against its own.
Over the course of years, that could change I suppose.
Also I have heard it said that if you need to do military “police action” in the Philadelphia ‘hood you handpick southern rednecks for the job, and if you need troops to put down a rural insurrection you choose your inner city ghetto youth, and so forth... leverage local tastes so to speak.
The inner city screws lose on both accounts.
Over the course of years, that could change I suppose.
It could change more quickly than you think, if the USG is threatened by a rebellion. I know this is going to sound a little odd coming from me, but we're too young to know what the USG is capable of. It would take a member of the Greatest Generation, who lived through World War 2 and its propaganda, to tell us.
Were there a rebellion, the rebels would be labelled "the New Confederacy" faster than you can sing "Hang Jeff Davis On A Sour Apple Tree." Which would be sung quite a lot by the troops in such an eventuality. And, rubbed in through as many ways as drill sergeants can think of.
If the USG wanted to set an example, all they'd have to do is Danny Deever a few rebel aid'ers in faux-Confederate uniforms, vidcam it, and show the clip to all the troops. With the official propganda thrown in.
As I said, we have no idea what the USG is capable of in the propaganda department. Especially when the Left is full-throatedly behind the war effort, as they were in WWII and would be if a bunch of 'right wing traitors' rebelled.
One handgun could do nothing against such an onslaught.
The trouble with rebelling against a domestic government, as opposed to a foreign power, is the the latter can save face somewhat by recalling the troops back to home. The former can't.