« Steve Halbrook discussing Bruen | Main | House-passed "assault weapon" "ban" »
Right to arms -- in Taiwan
This video from Radio Canada, which generally has and anti-gun (and esp. anti-American gun) position. It originates with WION (World Is One News), about which I know little. The theme is that the Taiwanese, like the Ukrainians, are out to train themselves in shooting, and for the same reason.
Gotta wonder that the anti-gunners haven't simply packed up and gone home. Americans' gun purchases are sky-high. The biggest problem shooters face is that, even with factories running 24/7, manufacturers can't produce enough ammo. The AR-15 has become the most popular rifle. The Supreme Court (three cheers for Justice Thomas!) has trounced them. The BLM riots have shown everyone that only fools rely on the government for protection. International aggressions have led to the people of other nations seeing the same.
It's not just that the anti-gunners are losing. It's that their cause is becoming irrelevant, obsolete.
5 Comments | Leave a comment
It is my understanding that legal gun ownership is extremely difficult in Taiwan.
Taiwan is running out of time, to create a domestic gun-culture that supports large numbers of personally armed and accurate civilians.
Considering the vital defense needs of Taiwan, they need to be more Switzerland than Singapore, when it comes to civilian armament.
Taiwan was a dictatorship for a long time. They have the typical Asian hatred for civilian gun ownership.
I do not believe they will do anything substantive to build a civilian gun culture.
Indeed, dictatorships frown on the subject masses being armed. But Taiwan has been a democracy for quite a while now. And while you're right that gun culture isn't part of their history, one might hope it's not too late for them to start creating one.
And in a way, a "gun culture" as we have it in the USA is useful but not necessary for their immediate needs. What IS necessary is lots of weapons, in the hands of the citizens, accompanied by an afternoon of training. A few million civilians with the equivalent of "NRA Basic Marksman" training in their background would do a great deal of damage to communist conscript invaders. I wonder how many US instructors would be willing to spend a few weeks on Taiwan on a "Train the trainers" program, vaguely like the success of Operation Blazing Sword.
Brad is right: Switzerland needs to be their model.
Good video. Professor Van Alstyne, writing in the Duke Law Journal, explained it: In order to be well-regulated (18th century understanding of that term), the militia must be drawn from people with the right to keep and bear arms and not from some other source (people with no such right). This erects the very scaffolding of a free state.