06-06-2021, 06:01 PM
(06-06-2021, 05:16 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: So, I feel like jumping in just because I'm bored. Refusal to adhere to a law is not, in itself, the basis behind civil disobedience. Civil disobedience, according to any definition I have seen, requires a public display of that refusal and a willingness to accept the punishment from the state. I think this page from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides the best and most thorough discussion on the topic that is accessible for the lay-reader. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/
I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I have had a lot of training in civil disobedience and protest in general. You'd be surprised what they teach you in peace churches. Seriously. From all of my experiences and the readings I have done, I'd have to side with Dill on this one. Could 2A folks engage in civil disobedience regarding potential gun control measures? Sure. But just refusing to adhere to those laws doesn't qualify. We also need to see a public pronouncement as well as a willingness to submit to the authorities on the matter.
Understood, and I conceded the point that under the definition of "civil disobedience" as provided refusal to adhere to, for example, an "assault weapons" ban would not strictly fall under that definition. What I continue to maintain is that the spirit, or motivation, behind the action is exactly, 100%, the same. So, as I stated much earlier in the thread, gun owners who refuse to comply with that type of gun law are engaging in an activity directly in line with the provided definition of civil disobedience. Refusing to register an "assault weapon" is not different than failing to obey a Jim Crow era law in the sense that you are actively disobeying a law that you truly believe to be unjust.
As for the actively getting arrested part, well, the media is, let's say, less than kind to people who refuse to follow gun laws and they'd likely get labeled as terrorists, extremists, white supremacists or insurrectionists.
