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Seafort made the point that if you replaced "enemy of the state" with "terrorist," the average US citizen would likely accept such activity. My point is that it's not a question of a US viewpoint, but rather a general facet of the human condition. The Boston Massacre is widely regarded here as an example of British totalitarian oppression of the Colonists, to the point where John Adams was widely vilified for being the British troops' defense attorney; however, I imagine that in England those men were considered officers of the peace, and seen as burdened with the task of defending themselves and local order.

Maybe not, as the men from whom the redcoats were recruited were widely regarded as being just below dog shit on the food chain; but I feel pretty confident that the circumstances were seen in reverse in England as they were in the Colonies.

Mikey wrote:Seafort made the point that if you replaced "enemy of the state" with "terrorist," the average US citizen would likely accept such activity. My point is that it's not a question of a US viewpoint, but rather a general facet of the human condition.

That was my point as well, in response to MMI's claim that US soldiers wouldn't act like the Chinese did in '89.

The Boston Massacre is widely regarded here as an example of British totalitarian oppression of the Colonists, to the point where John Adams was widely vilified for being the British troops' defense attorney; however, I imagine that in England those men were considered officers of the peace, and seen as burdened with the task of defending themselves and local order.

The Boston Massacre was more an example of why chucking bricks at a bunch of soldiers (or anyone with a gun for that matter) is a bad idea.

Maybe not, as the men from whom the redcoats were recruited were widely regarded as being just below dog s**t on the food chain; but I feel pretty confident that the circumstances were seen in reverse in England as they were in the Colonies.

The phrase you're looking for is "the scum of the earth", courtesy of Wellington.

I wasn't actually looking for the quote, but thanks.

Sorry about the necro but I was just looking at a nice chart in a NFA magazine showing firearms homicides in Canada from 1998 (IIRC that's when the current registry came into effect) to 2005 and the numbers of homicides have been going up and of these homicides only 36% have been committed with a registered arm or by a registered owner.

So not only did the system cost over a billion dollars (it was originally to cost 2 million) but it's been a complete and utter failure.

Now I put as much stock in the NFA as I do in the ramblings of Rush Limbaugh but the numbers are sourced from Stats Can.