You are exactly right sarge. Marines are well aware of what constitutes a lawful order and would stand down in the face of an order to arbitraily disarm civilians. The Marines are about 95% conservative, those that aren’t get a talk with NCO who lays out the facts.
“arbitraily disarm civilians”
That maybe be very true, but how about an order to detain “Domestic Terrorists” or detain “Those whom lawful court orders have been issued for their arrests”? Would the Marines ask just what those arrests are for or ask exactly what terrorist act they are supposed to have committed? I am more worried about Marines and the like being given false information to solicit their cooperation than I am a direct attack by those in the know. Perhaps a Marine unit could only be fooled once but how many Marines would a tyrannical government go through to ensure they still accomplished their goals? This is where our founding fathers had heartburn about a standing army, not that the army would be complicit but that the army could be fooled, or even extorted, into cooperating with tyrants against the people. Think about if your superiors didn’t stand down but you, an individual Marine, felt otherwise. Could you personally stand down in face of those orders from your superiors? Things get tricky right about then and whose life or property are you about to place at risk if you don’t stand down.