re: #38 Guanxi88

Well, it seems we agree that the left has put down the gun, i.e. made a political decision against violence as a means of dissent and by and large stuck by it, in rhetoric and practice.
But I think you completely overestimate the value of combat training for this kind of thing. I know that the people in these militias believe that their constant weapon training will be needed in some sort of coming war, but there will never be a war. There will only be individual outbursts and maybe short group actions that the government will destroy like Obama did the fly, no matter how many years they shoot at paper targets.
The only problem is the acceptance of armed resistance as a legitimate means of political dissent in a democracy, I really believe that. If there had ever been a political will to take up arms against the Bush administration, a couple of months preparation would have been plenty.